By Gom Mirian
Nigerians have expressed divided views on the directive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to security chiefs to ”crush oil thieves”.
While some believe that there are issues that must be addressed before such a command is given by the President, others have applauded the decision as a sure way to stop siphoning of the nation’s wealth.
President Tinubu had on Thursday, in his first security meeting with the nation’s Service Chiefs, heads of security, and intelligence agencies, ordered that perpetrators of oil theft be crushed as his administration would not tolerate the menace.
According to Tinubu, Nigeria will make strides in vital economic sectors like developed countries and any impediment to achieving will be removed.
Reacting to this pronouncement on Friday in a telephone interview with African Health Report (AHR), the Executive Director of Authority Newspaper, Mr. Chuks Akunna, faulted the declaration by President Tinubu, saying he was more interested in securing oil facilities than addressing massive killings happening in the Niger Delta region.
He said: “Tinubu’s meeting with security chiefs raised eyebrows, he should have been aware that the protection of lives and property should be the paramount interest of any president but yesterday (Thursday), President Tinubu chose to charge security chiefs to crush oil thieves.
“For him, as long as they can protect our oil installations and we get money for them, it is okay. I had thought that I would hear him tell service chiefs, ”I don’t want to see Nigerians killed any longer, I don’t want to see herder clashes, and I want kidnapping to stop.” All he said was for them to crush oil thieves, in other words, his major interest is on how to secure our petroleum supply so that nobody can enter and fat cows in the government will benefit from it,” he said.
On the contrary, the Secretary-General, International Institute of Professional Security (IIPS), Abdullahi Jabi, applauded the decision as being in the right direction.
According to him, to effectively address insecurity in Nigeria, leakages in the country’s revenue stream must be blocked, else the new government would pay dearly, coupled with the huge debts inherited from the previous administration.
He said: “It is a lack of understanding of certain policy pronouncements that is causing some people to conclude (that it is a wrong move). No one dictates to the government what to do, the government has the responsibility to put certain programmes in place towards the upliftment of socio-economic lives and property, starting from the revenue sector. The only way to start is to block leakages, theft, wastage and illegal activity in the economy.
“There is a likelihood of changing some of the service chiefs to reflect federal character inclusion in governance, and the security of the country. There will also be a collaboration between security agencies to ensure zero tolerance of unnecessary rivalry among the security agencies to address the present insecurity.”
