Spokesperson of the presidency, Garba Shehu has said that the Federal Government will soon reveal the eminent personalities behind the persistent crude oil theft in the country.
Speaking on Daily Politics, a Trust TV programme, Shehu said that security operatives have busted locations where illegal oil bunkering was happening.
He decried that some law enforcement agents have been complicit to the crime.
The spokesperson, however, called for more commitment from communities to flush out oil theft.
“Oil theft is being tackled. The big problem we have in this country is that we ought to see more commitment from communities in assisting law enforcement agents.
“In some cases where some actors in the law enforcement are complicit, it becomes bad.
“We used to fight the OPEC for more quotas; now, they have given us and we are not able to meet up. This is embarrassing. As we speak today, all security agencies like the Nigerian army, navy, are massively involved in stopping this act.
“I am hopeful that in the next few days, the office of the national security adviser will be presenting to the nation – the big men – who are promoters of this kind of business as they are being caught and illegal refineries are being bombed out.
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is also installing a monitoring capacity to detect or advise immediately when sabotage of oil pipelines happen.”
President Muhammadu Buhari had, on Friday, mandated security agencies to put an end to the theft of crude oil by criminals and vandals in the Niger Delta region.
He said in a statement, “We will not allow a few criminals to have unfettered access to the nation’s crude oil supply, hence I have directed our security agencies to speedily bring to a halt the activities of these vandals in the Niger Delta.
“There should be no hiding place for such criminals, and our cooperation with neighbouring countries in halting these crimes is being strengthened and tightened.”