The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) has submitted recommendations reached at the end of a national conference on organised crimes in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea, to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for possible implementation.
The conference organised by YEAC-Nigeria and supported by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GITOC)/Resilience Fund, Austria, was held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and was declared open by former President Muhammadu Buhari through tweets to the conference.
YEAC-Nigeria executive director, Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Thursday, said the implementation of the 19 recommendations reached at the conference will mitigate organised crimes in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea.
Fyneface said copies of the recommendations contained in a communique were also sent to relevant ministries, departments, and agencies of the federal government, as well as the National Security Adviser (NSA) and Service Chiefs, among many other stakeholders.
He stated that YEAC-Nigeria has been at the forefront of the campaign against pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft, artisanal refineries, and pollution, hence it was imperative to submit the communiqué to Mr. President directly.
The executive director said he expected the federal government to liaise with other countries in the Gulf of Guinea region through the Gulf of Guinea Commission in the implementation of certain recommendations, to address the menace of organised crimes in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, and the Gulf of Guinea.
Fyneface said: “In the communique, the Advocacy Centre recommended the following to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for immediate implementation;
“The establishment of a Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI) proposed by YEAC-Nigeria for the innovation, modernization, standardization, legalization, and integration of artisanal refineries into the national economy as a corresponding organized crime mitigation mechanism for artisanal crude oil refiners in the Niger Delta, like the illegal gold miners in parts of North and Western Nigeria that the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMI) is established for them to mitigate organized crime in gold mining;
“Immediate issuance of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s approved 18 Modular Refineries licenses for artisanal refiners in the Niger Delta to mitigate organized crime and support sustainable youth empowerment.
“Partnership with other Presidents in the Gulf of Guinea for the establishment of an effective taskforce against organized crime to be known as Taskforce Against Organized Crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea (TAOCINAG).
“A Presidential Directive to the National Security Adviser, Chief of Defense Intelligence, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Inspector General of Police, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Interior, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), National Intelligence Agency (NIA), National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), etc. to collaborate with YEAC-Nigeria on the Network on Organized Crime in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea (NOCINAG).”
