Crush Oil Thieves, Tinubu Directs Service Chiefs

President Bola Tinubu has directed Service Chiefs, heads of security and intelligence agencies to crush oil thieves in the country.

The president handed down the order on Thursday after meeting with security and intelligence heads led by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

It was the first meeting the president would be having since his inauguration as president on May 29.

He had pledged to restructure the country’s security architecture and embark on reforms that would strengthen the security agencies to tackle threats more effectively.

He restated his commitment to that pledge on Thursday with security chiefs, according to the National Security Adviser, NSA, Major Gen. Bafana Monguno (retd), who briefed journalists after the meeting.

Of great concern to the president is oil theft which he said drains the nation’s resources.

“The President and Commander in Chief of the armed forces has just concluded a meeting of the general security appraisal committee consisting of the chief of staff, service chiefs, inspector general of Police, and heads of the intelligence agencies,” Monguno said.

He explained that, “This is the very first meeting he’s had with the heads of the security agencies. The meeting lasted for two hours.

“Having been briefed by the participants at the meeting, Mr President, addressed prevailing issues confronting the nation in terms of insecurity and also mentioned his own philosophy towards dealing with national security issues.

“First and foremost, he appreciated the armed forces and intelligence agencies and the wider paramilitary agencies for the work they have been doing in the past couple of years.

“Their sacrifice, their loyalty, and he also paid tribute to those who died defending this country, from the great menace of terrorism, insurgency banditry, oil theft, sea robbery, piracy, etc.

“The President has made it very clear that he’s determined to build on whatever gains that have been made and to reverse misfortunes and turn the tide in our favour.

“As far as he’s concerned, this country should not be on its knees struggling while other countries are working and achieving greater heights.”

He added that the president stressed in clear terms coordination among security agencies for proper security management.

“He has made it very clear that he will not accept a situation in which our fortunes keep declining. And his own trajectory is that national security has to be coordinated, there has to be whatever…whether it is a basket system, but there must be a clearing house.

“All agencies must work to achieve one single purpose. Working at cross purposes and colliding with each other is not something that he will condone.

“He has made it very, very clear that all the security agencies must comply with the demands of coordination, with the demands of frequent consultations and also timely reports which must be acted on.

“He is going to embark on a lot of reforms in terms of our security architecture, he is going to take a closer look at our misfortunes in the maritime domain, focusing particularly on the issues of oil theft, that as far as he is concerned, he is not going to tolerate oil theft Wherever the problem is coming from it must be crushed as soon as possible.

“The President also has decided that whatever ventures the armed forces are going to be engaged in, they must carry along those operatives in the theatre. They must be well-fed, well-kitted, motivated and given all that they require.

“The President has said clearly that he will do whatever is within his powers to enable the operational elements but the intelligence agencies must also make their work easy for them by providing the type of intelligence that they require to carry out the assignment,” Monguno said.