The Nigeria Police has released details of how its operatives attached to the IGP Special Task Force on Petroleum and Illegal Bunkering (IGP-STFPIB) successfully busted an illegal petroleum refining operation in Edo State in the late hours of Wednesday, 7 September 2022.
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike says, as a responsible government, his administration will not allow any act of economy sabotage such as crude oil theft take place in the State even if his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in opposition.
Gov. Wike revealed this when participants of the Strategic Management and Policy Studies Course 4/2021 of the Nigeria Army Resource Centre, Abuja led by Maj. Gen. James. G.K. Myam paid him a courtesy call at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
Opinion: That sponsored mischief against Governor Wike’s war against soot. Written by Paulinus Nsirim.
Gov. Nyesom Wike has tasked traditional rulers in Rivers State not to allow illegal crude oil artisanal refining (kpo-fire) activities to take place in their domains anymore.
As the residents of the state continue to suffer and battle with the chronic health challenges posed by inhaling this dangerous black powder which has become the largest component of the air within the state, the Federal Government whose statutory responsibility it is to curb this menace has remained seemingly unshaken, taciturn and indifferent about the plight of the residents of the state in this regard.
Gov. Wike demands redeployment of DPO, NSCDC officer implicated in illegal refinery activities.
“Governor Wike’s pragmatic offensive against illegal refineries had been driven by his deep worry and concern over the environmental pollution caused by dangerous black soot, which had practically covered the stratosphere of major parts of Rivers State and had become even more life threatening with the arrival of the Omicron Delta Covid-19 variant, to compound the already menacing and precarious respiratory health challenges synonymous with the Coronavirus.”
Gov. Wike has declared 19 persons wanted for operating illegal crude oil refining sites responsible for the black soot pandemic in Rivers State.
According to Gov. Nyesom Wike, black soot now portend a major threat to the health of Nigerians and foreigners living in Rivers State.
