Imported User:
The Federal Government has approved the constitution of a task force on crude oil theft.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Oluseyi Petinrin, disclosed this to newsmen on Friday in Lagos, during a stakeholders' meeting on security in the oil and gas industry.
Petinrin said that the essence of the task force was to check-mate incessant oil theft in the country.
He said that most senior army personnel and other security agencies would be included in the team to bring sanity.
``I quite agree with the collective decision of the stakeholders on ways to address oil theft in the country.
``All the security agencies will ensure adequate monitoring of the country's oil thefts to logical conclusion,'' he said.
He, however, assured that the security agencies that would be involved in the assignment of the task force would never compromise.
Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, said that over 180 million barrels of crude oil were lost on daily basis in the country.
Allison-Madueke said that the task force would include both indigenous and international oil chiefs.
The minister said that it had been observed that in the last six months, the number of oil theft on Nigerian water was high.
``This crude oil theft affects both our environment and economic values in Nigeria,’’ she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the security meeting was attended by service chiefs and managing directors of both international and indigenous oil companies. (NAN)
