The Cross River State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mr. Dayo Adesuyi, on Tuesday disclosed that five refineries that were used for illegal bunkering had been destroyed in the Bakassi axis of the state.
Adesuyi, who disclosed this during a press briefing in Calabar, also said the agency was working in collaboration with the Department of Petroleum Resources to ensure that filling stations across the state complied with the N86.50 per litre as the new regulated price for Premium Motor Spirit.
According to the commandant, the agency has stepped up operations to stamp out illegal bunkering and diversion of petroleum products.
He stressed that the discovery and destruction of the illegal refineries were part of the successes of the NSCDC against the activities of oil thieves in the last seven months.
Adesuyi also listed other breakthroughs in the period under review as seizure of over 20 drums of diesel from pipeline vandals, arrest of 15 suspects, securing court conviction for three out of the seven suspects currently undergoing trial for illegal activities, among others.
“We are working in collaboration with the DPR to ensure that petroleum products are no longer diverted by marketers. In doing this, we have put in force strategies to check diversions. We now have patrol vehicles monitoring their activities at Ikom, Ogoja and Akamkpa.
“In the last seven months, we have also destroyed five illegal refineries. These refineries operated in the Bakassi area of the state. Our aim is to ensure that cases of illegal bunkering are reduced.
“We have made remarkable progress in the period under review. We have seized exhibits on the ground from pipeline vandals and we also arrested 15 suspects in that regard.
“So far, out of the seven that are on trial, we have secured conviction for three while the others will soon know their fate,” Adesuyi added.
However, the state commandant of the NSCDC lamented that the command was faced with acute shortage of vehicles to carry out widespread monitoring of illegal activities.
He, therefore, appealed to the state government and well-meaning organisations to come to the aid of the command by providing vehicles for operations.
He said, “Our major challenge is mobility. We do not have enough operational vehicles. We have had to make proper use of the few vehicles with us to ensure that we meet up with critical aspects of our mandate of protecting public property.
“We have distributed the few vehicles to monitor activities of vandals, cable thieves and others in Ogoja, Ikom, Obanliku, Akamkpa and of course Calabar. We need more operational vehicles to cover all the divisions in the state.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Akwa Ibom said it had secured seven convictions in court in its fight against oil bunkering and pipeline vandalisation in 2015
The NSCDC, Akwa Ibom Command, also claimed it disposed off seven cases, abandoned 18 for lack of evidence while 34 cases were still pending in courts.
It said many of the suspected pipeline vandals abandoned their vehicles to escape arrest upon sighting the corps’ operatives.
The state Commandant of the NSCDC, Mr. Emmanuel Ojeniyi, said during a press conference in Uyo on Tuesday that his command had impounded two illegal mobile refineries, trucks loaded with drums of automated gas oil, including cellophane used in concealing the products in cars and vans.
He revealed that many of the suspected pipeline vandals mixed diesel with kerosene to maximise their gains and added that many industrial plants and heavy duty vehicle engines that developed faults were as a result of the practice.
The commandant stated that some of the suspects offered them bribes of N250,000, N30,000, and more, adding that the command tendered the money in courts as evidence to prosecute the suspects.
“All the bribe money, impounded vehicles, and drums are documented in black and white. All the impounded products and vehicles belong to the Federal Government wherever there is judgment that finds them guilty.
“The money we tender in the court as evidence for prosecution is not our money. When the case is finalised, we’ll drop the money in the court. Once there is evidence that these people bribed us, we have a better case against them.
“When the suspects are pronounced guilty, they will not go to prisons with the money, the money belongs to the Federal Government,” Ojeniyi said.
The commandant stated that the pipeline vandals reported the corps to the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, saying the NSCDC was behind the fuel shortage in the state.
Ojeniyi stated that when he explained the matter to the governor that they were pipeline vandals involved in selling adulterated products, he (governor) asked him to continue doing his job.
He said, “They told the governor that the Civil Defence in Akwa Ibom did not allow them to be at peace. The governor called me and I told the governor that, ‘sir, we do not have problems with any of them: the instruction says, no vandalised product comes into this state.
“I told him (the governor) that they were the people that adulterated petroleum products that come into the state. The governor said, “Carry on with your job.”
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