The Southsouth Zonal Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Blessing Agbomhere has expressed delight at the massive onslaught against oil thieves in the Niger-Delta.
Agbomhere said Nigeria needs all the oil it can produce for export because of the state of the economy.
He hailed Tantita Security Services Limited (TSSL) – a private security company owned by former Niger-Delta militant commander, Government Ekpemupolo popularly known as Tompolo.
Agbomhere, while reacting to the security company’s recent arrest of a vessel at an offshore location in Bayelsa state where it was loading stolen crude, said the apprehension of the vessel was one in a series of exploits made by Tompolo’s security firm in the quest to eliminate crude oil theft in Nigeria which had been going on for years unchallenged.
In a statement yesterday, Agbomhere, who is also a governorship aspirant of the APC in the forthcoming election in Edo State, said Tompolo has been able to justify the confidence reposed in him by the Federal Government in awarding him the contract to protect the source of Nigeria’s wealth.
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He said: “Security of lives and property, especially of critical infrastructure, should not be left alone to the government. As individuals and corporate bodies we should be committed to ensuring that the infrastructure that has cost the government so much money to put in place and other assets such as oil pipelines are regularly protected.
“In this era of a debilitating economy, Nigeria needs all the oil it can produce for export, this is why it is very crucial that Tompolo’s contract should be sustained at all cost.”
Agbomhere also commended the Federal Government for the foresight in seeking out Tompolo for the pipeline protection contract, adding that it is only Niger-Deltans with vivid understanding of the topography of the area and the intricate locations of oil pipelines therein that can be trusted to carry out such delicate assignment as ensuring that oil thieves no longer have access to Nigeria’s Commonwealth.
The APC Chieftain urged other Nigerians from across the country to borrow a leaf from the private security arrangement put in place by Tompolo by ensuring that vandals, criminals and terrorists have no access to the nation’s rail tracks, power lines, storage facilities, hospitals and schools among others.