The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu has revealed that the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) is set to reveal the identities of elite Nigerians behind oil theft in the country.
Shehu made this shocking revelation when he appeared on a Trust TV programme.
He disclosed that as part of measures to control economic sabotage in Nigeria, security personnel recently irrupted hideouts where illegal oil bunkering are done and arrests were made.
The president’s SSA on media and publicity further added that oil theft is being tackled because it is a big shame that Nigeria is unable to meet up with the quota given to it by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC.
“Oil theft is being tackled. The big problem we have in this country is that we ought to see more commitment from communities in assisting law enforcement agents.
“In some cases, where some actors in law enforcement are complicit, it becomes bad.
“We used to fight the OPEC for more quotas; now, they’ve given us and we aren’t able to meet up.
“This’s embarrassing, he said.
Shehu went on to add that, “Security agencies are fully involved in stopping this act.
“I’m hopeful that in the next few days, the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) will be presenting to the country big men who are promoters of this kind of business as they’re being caught and illegal refineries are being bombed out.
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is also installing a monitoring capacity to detect or advise immediately when sabotage of oil pipelines happens,” he said.