Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has said that it was time the Nigerian state considers the damage caused by activities of crude oil thieves to the economic mainstay of the country and treat them as treasonable offenders.
\nThe governor also stated that the fight to stop oil theft has continued to fail because top ranking officers of the military were deeply involved in it.
\nWike made the observation when he hosted the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Isiaka Oladayo Amao on courtesy visit at Government House, Port Harcourt, last Monday.
\nThe governor noted that it was not only the wastage of the economy that was being witnessed, but the degradation that the environment also suffers as a result of that and impact negatively on rural communities in Rivers State in particular.
\n\u201cYou know this bunkering cannot stop; let\u2019s be serious about it, everybody is involved. The military is involved. Police is involved. The Nigeria Civil Defence Corps is involved. If not, there is no way bunkering can continue. It\u2019s a terrible thing.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know, whether we should take the issue of bunkering to even be more serious than treason. If you go around and see what has happened to our environment, you\u2019ll have pity on us.\u201d
\nWike also tasked members of the military task force deployed to arrest illegal oil bunkerers and find better and environmentally-friendly way to destroy bunkering sites in the state.
\nHe said when they blow-up and set those sites on flame, they increase soot in the atmosphere that have become another grave environmental concern in Rivers State.
\n\u201cIf there is another civilised way to go about it, so that while you\u2019re doing the right thing, let us not die. You should find another way to reduce this soot. Unfortunately, we have no helper. On the other hand, we continue praying to God to touch the minds of these bunkerers.\u201d
\nCommenting on the war against insurgency, Wike commended the military for the success that they have achieved in reducing the level of carnage Boko Haram and bandits have caused in parts of the country.
\nBut the governor noted that greater success can be achieved by deploying more military strategies, than engaging in media publicity.
\n\u201cLet me also thank you for what you are doing about the insurgency fight in the country. I do believe that strategy is very key in the fight against insurgency. It is not publicity.
\n\u201cWhen you\u2019re winning a war, the people will feel it. When people are secured, you don\u2019t need to go to television to tell them that they\u2019re secured. They\u2019ll know from the environment that there are a lot of changes going on, and that is the way Nigerians believe that, yes, we are winning the war against insurgency.\u201d
\nWike pointed out that the prevailing peace in Rivers State was achieved because of the existing cooperation between all the heads of security agencies with the state government.
\nAccording to him, Rivers people were comfortable and feel safe in their communities, and they can go about their normal businesses without the undue molestation from outlaws.
\nWike also assured the Nigerian Air Force of continuing the existing cordial relationship between it and the state government that started from the administration of Dr. Peter Odili.
\nThe governor also urged the Nigerian Air Force to deploy the two armoured helicopters donated to them by the Rivers State Government to the state, in order to improve surveillance in the fight against criminality.
\nIn his speech, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Isiaka Oladayo Amao said he was on operational visit to 115 Special Operations Group in Rivers State, and decided to pay courtesy visit to the governor, who has contributed immensely to the functioning of their base in Port Harcourt.
\nAmao commended the governor for the good work he has continued to do in Rivers State in terms of provision of infrastructure.
\n\u201cWe commend you for being able to contain the security situation in the state. Rivers State has been a very peaceful state. That is why, most at times, I and the service chiefs have to focus on other places with much problems.
\n\u201cThe governor is able to achieve this state of peace because, from the brief I got from my officer, he has been a very good coordinator and also assisted the security agencies in the discharge of their duties.\u201d
\nAmao also thanked Wike for the financial support that was given to families of officers that died in the line of duty in the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has said that it was time the Nigerian state considers the damage caused by activities of crude oil thieves to the economic mainstay of the country and treat them as treasonable offenders. The governor also stated that the fight to stop oil theft has continued to fail because top […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":281241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-281200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=281200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281242,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281200\/revisions\/281242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/281241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=281200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=281200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=281200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}