Gov. Nyesom Woke of Rivers State
Efforts to terminate oil bunkering and illegal refining in Rivers State has taken a notch higher by the State government.
Rowland Sekibo, Council Chairman, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area, noted that the special anti-bunkering task force had destroyed 27 illegal refinery sites in the past one week.
The task force, has also arrested eight persons for pipeline vandalism in the area.
Sekibo charged members of the locality to provide the task force with valuable information to tackle illegal oil activities in the state.
Said he: “My advice to them (communities) is that they should just give us information, because the truth is that it is difficult for many communities to fight against the people that indulge in this illegal bunkering because they are criminals and you can’t take ordinary hands to a gunfight.
“But those of us that are responsible, when we get information, we will go after them”.
Sekibo also initiated the special anti-bunkering task force in his LGA.
The campaign against the illegal activities is spearheaded by Nyesom Wike, Rivers State Governor, and driven by the local governments.
Governor Wike had issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the 23 local government chairmen in the state to provide a comprehensive list of illegal refineries and their operators in their various localities.
He made this statement when he hosted the heads of the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air force, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Police, the Directorate of State Service, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps at Government House recently.