The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) said that in the previous year, it detained 571 suspected vandals and dismantled 71 illicit refineries throughout the country.
Ahmed Audi, the Commandant General (CG) of the NSCDC, stated this on Friday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He said that of the 571 apprehended vandals, 512 were being prosecuted, while 121 had been convicted and were serving various jail sentences around the country.
Audi stated that the Corps’s findings were part of the NSCDC’s commitment to ensure pipelines were effectively safeguarded against illicit activity.
He did, however, express alarm about the rising tendency of illicit refineries and the re-emergence of previously destroyed ones.
According to him:
“What is disturbing is the issue of illegal refineries; you destroy one today, tomorrow you will see another one. In fact, the one you destroyed reincarnates in about a week.
“However, the Corps has put in place both kinetic and non-kinetic measures to provide safety and security for our oil installations and other critical infrastructure in Nigeria.
“So far, we have seen that what we have adopted is working, so next year we will try to work seriously on the non-kinetic approach of cautioning Nigerians, engaging in advocacy, and having discussions with communities, youth, and traditional rulers, amongst others.
“We have realised that oil theft is a syndicated crime. So, we will attack the root cause; we have written advice to state governments on how to adopt some form of non-kinetic approach to provide solutions to this menace.”
cc: Vanguard Ng
