Oil theft: Navy destroys 78 illegal refineries in Rivers

NIGERIAN Navy has de­stroyed 78 illegal crude oil refineries located in differ­ent parts of Rivers State.
This was even as the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, warned officers and men of the Navy against aiding and abetting oil theft in the Niger Delta region.
According to Naval au­thorities in Port Harcourt, the destruction of the il­legal refineries started on June 15.
The operations were car­ried out in Onne axis, Bolo, Alakiri, Cartharwn chan­nels, Bille and Ke, all in Port Harcourt and Bonny areas of the state.
Meanwhile, the Chief of Naval Staff has warned that any personnel indicted for illegal oil bunkering would be treated as an economic saboteur and sanctioned.
Admiral Ibas stated this yesterday, while address­ing officers and men of the Navy at the NNS Pathfind­er, Port Harcourt, during his maiden tour of naval formations in the state.
His words: “If you have been party to illegal du­ties out there, my advice to you from this day, as I finish addressing you, is to dissociate yourselves from such. The Navy will not condone any illegal act out there. I am talking with particular reference to you aiding and abating crude oil theft.
“I do not want to believe that you men are part but, if you know that you have connections, you have dealings with the people I called bad guys, the guys who have ensured that we don’t prosper as a nation; please keep away, other­wise, we will treat you as a saboteur and you will be sanctioned appropriately.
“I think that Nigeria deserves a Navy we all should be proud of, a Navy that finds itself at sea doing what other navies of the world do; and not the Navy that finds itself at shore engaged in things that are strange to most navies.
“We are all aware that our nation depends ma­jorly on the maritime en­vironment for her survival, and we are constitution­ally mandated to ensure that the Martine domain is safe and secured to enable us reap from the resources therein, for the prosperity of our nation.”
He noted that in recent times, the insecurity in the maritime environments has denied the nation of the needed revenue of de­velopments, stressing that, “if we continue on that line, even the Navy as an institution, will find it dif­ficult to survive.”
The Chief of Naval Staff said the Navy had adopted other tactical strategies to drastically reduce oil theft, piracy and attacks on oil and gas installations on the waterways and the mari­time environment.