Nigerian oil workers said on Wednesday that they will hold nationwide rallies to protest the recent colossal theft of the country’s crude oil and destruction of oil assets in an effort to compel the government to take action and put an end to the scourge.
The oil workers under the Petroleum Natural Gas Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) mentioned that after engaging the leadership of security agencies, regulatory bodies, and industry captains to discover measures to stem the scourge with no discernable outcomes, it became imperative to declare an emergency.
Mr. Festus Osifo, National President of PENGASSAN, told journalists in Abuja that because participating within the confines of the offices was not yielding the intended results, the union will now restrategize.
Although the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) attained a quota of 1.8 million barrels per day in July, Nigeria barely managed to produce a little more than one million barrels per day.
Despite a flurry of recent measures, including the re-deployment of security personnel, real-time monitoring of activities near the pipelines, the whistleblower approach, and the awarding of a four billion naira monthly surveillance contract to ex-militant, and other strategies, little success has been achieved.
According to the president of PENGASSAN, if there was no crude oil theft and Nigeria could produce up to 1.9 million barrels per day, there would be no need for external and domestic loans to the point where the manufacturing sector is incapable of borrowing from banks.
The president declared that PENGASSAN is now compelled to act after following the failure of office discussions and that marches will begin on Thursday in the four zones, with the slogan, “Chasing Oil Thieves and Vandals Out of Business.”
He explained that it would not be a one-off activity but a continuous one until the government is moved to take action and stop the vandals and oil thieves.
The president further employed all Nigerians to unite in this fight, irrespective of party affiliation as this problem concerned everyone.
