Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has suggested that Nigeria treat oil theft as treason as it hurts the country’s economy.
He claimed that Nigeria is failing in its fight against oil theft because top-ranking members of its security agencies are involved in the thievery.
The governor delivered the comment when he was hosting Air Staff chief Air Marshall Isiaka Amao, at the Government House, Port Harcourt, on Monday, his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, reported in a statement.
“You know this bunkering cannot stop because everybody is involved. The military is involved, the police are involved, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps is involved,” said Gov Wike. “If not, there is no way illegal bunkering can continue.
“I don’t know, whether we should take the issue of bunkering to be more serious than treason. If you go around and see what has happened to our environment, you’ll have pity on us.”
Gov Wike added that the members of the military task force deployed to arrest the illegal oil bunkers must find a sustainable method to destroy the bunkers.
He underlined the concern that when the military blew up the sites, they increased the amount of soot in the atmosphere, which had been an environmental issue for the state.
The governor also used the opportunity to commend the success of the military in its war against insurgency, claiming that the army had successfully reduced the number of attacks by Boko Haram and bandits all over the country.
