NNPC, Maritime C’ttee To End Crude Oil Theft - Photo

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has expressed its determination to collaborate with other federal government agencies to bring to an immediate end, crude oil theft in the Nigerian maritime industry.

The Group Managing Director of the Corporation,  Andrew Yakubu, stated this when the Inter- Agency Maritime Operation Committee paid him a courtesy call in Abuja, following a presidential directive to eradicate crude oil bunkering in the country.

According to Yakubu, the NNPC ‘’As a corporate entity that takes part in the maritime business both locally and internationally, must rise up to the occasion along with other government agencies to confront and bring to book unscrupulous individuals that have depleted the nation’s economy as a result of their illegal maritime business.’’

The NNPC GMD decried the daily loss of thousands of barrels of crude oil to illegal bunkering and noted that blocking the leakage would go a long way in improving the standard of living of Nigerians.

Earlier, the Chairman of the Inter Agency Maritime Operation Committee, which members are drawn from the NNPC, Nigerian Navy, the Air Force, Customs, Police, SSS and the Judiciary, Rear Admiral E. O. Ogboh, said the committee was established a month ago with a mandate to address the issue of illegal bunkering in the nation’s maritime waters.