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 Obaseki bemoans oil theft in Niger Delta

Obaseki bemoans oil theft in Niger Delta

PUNCH NEWS

The Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has flayed the incessant cases of oil theft in the Niger Delta, bemoaning the loss of about 22 million barrels of crude in the first six months of this year, estimated at $1.35bn.

The governor disclosed this when he received a delegation of the National Executive Committee of the Pan Niger-Delta Forum, which was in the Government House, Benin City, on a courtesy visit.

Obaseki wondered how such volume of crude oil could be stolen to the detriment of the development of the area despite the high presence of security personnel in the Niger Delta region.

He said, “What is really worrisome for me, having chaired the NEC committee on stolen crude oil, is the extent of militarisation in our region. About 22 million barrels of crude oil cannot be accounted for in the first half of this year with an estimated cost of almost $1.35bn.”

He said some people claimed to have spent a lot of money in the last decade to develop the region but there was nothing to show for it.

The governor said, “There is a need to use the region’s assets for economic growth to prevent people of the Niger Delta from being shortchanged and its resources used as slush funds.”

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