The Nigerian Army has called on the Presidential Amnesty Programme to intervene and ensure an end to illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta region.
The General Officer Commanding, 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Maj Gen O. O. Oluyede, made the call when he received the PAP’s Interim Administrator, Col Milland Dikio (retd.), in his office in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday.
Oluyede said some of the perpetrators of the illicit practice were ex-agitators, who were ignorant of the harm they were doing to the region’s environment.
He said the Army was ready to collaborate with the PAP and other relevant institutions and agencies of government to end the environmental menace.
The GOC commended Dikio for making the PAP a successful platform to sustain the peace in the oil and gas rich region, and the achievements he had recorded since he assumed office.
“We commend you on the remarkable success you have recorded since your appointment and urge you to continue. We also want you to intervene in the issue of illegal oil bunkering,” the army chief stated.
In his remarks, Dikio promised to intensify awareness on illegal oil bunkering, saying it constituted a health hazard to the people.
Dikio stated, “We are creating more awareness on the issue. Recently, some of our delegates, ex-agitators, held a sensitisation workshop here in Port Harcourt as part of our efforts to end illegal oil bunkering.
Let me state that anyone involved in ‘kpofire’ is like a murderer. They have made the atmosphere in and around Port Harcourt a health hazard. That is how bad it is.
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