As part of a broader effort to reduce the cost of governance in Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu has directed the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to freeze the processing of visas for all government officials seeking to travel to New York for the United Nations General Assembly without proof of direct participation in UNGA’s official schedule of activities.
In other news, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been urged to redirect the ongoing fight against oil theft in the creeks of the Niger Delta region to powerful oil cartel in Abuja who use their positions and influence to rob the country of its resources.
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara who disclosed this also faulted Federal Government’s ceding of contracts for security/Surveillance of oil pipelines in the hands of an individual or a few persons, asserting that the development won’t help the fight against oil theft.
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Addressing the Joint Presidential Committee on Crude Oil Theft on facility tour of the Niger Delta who were in Government House Port Harcourt weekend, Fubara, said until Federal Government clamps down on the powerful Abuja cartel bankrolling oil theft, no amount of efforts would end the economic sabotage associated with the crime.
He said, “Security of pipelines should not be placed in the hands of one man or a few individuals. You can’t say for instance that somebody from Kalabari should be asked to determine and control what is happening in Ogba-Egbema.
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“It’s not possible, not workable. Or somebody from Ogba-Egbema should take charge in Ogoni. You can understand there is no way it would work. You need to come down to bring on board all these host communities heads or leaders.
“Those people you are dealing with, you can engage on this other end, but those key leaders and influential power brokers in other major host communities must be engaged. Once you are able to do that, make them part of the process, no two ways about it. The tide of the economic sabotage through oil theft will go down.”
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