Oil theft: Idowu Asonja hails Tompolo’s firm for arresting vessel with stolen crude oil in Bayelsa
Ondo State Commandant, Tantita Security Services, Senior High Chief Idowu Asonja, has expressed delight at the apprehension of the vessel with stolen crude oil in Bayelsa
Senior High Chief Asonja hailed Tantita Security Services Limited (TSSL) – a private security company owned by former Niger-Delta militant commander, Government Ekpemupolo popularly known as Tompolo.
Asonja, while reacting to the security company’s recent arrest of a vessel at an offshore location in Bayelsa state where it was loading stolen crude, said the apprehension of the vessel was one in a series of exploits made by Tompolo’s security firm in the quest to eliminate crude oil theft in Nigeria which had been going on for years unchallenged.
In a release made available to newsmen on Tuesday, Asonja said Tompolo has been able to justify the confidence reposed in him by the Federal Government in awarding him the contract to protect the source of Nigeria’s wealth.
He said: “Security of lives and property, especially of critical infrastructure, should not be left alone to the government. As individuals and corporate bodies, we should be committed to ensuring that the infrastructure that has cost the government so much money to put in place and other assets such as oil pipelines are regularly protected.
In this era of a debilitating economy, Nigeria needs all the oil it can produce for export, this is why it is very crucial that Tompolo’s contract should be encouraged and sustained at all cost because they are granded in the Niger Delta region.”
Asonja said Nigeria needs all the oil it can produce for export because of the state of the economy to increase the barrel of crude oil produced per day.
Asonja also commended the Federal Government for discovering Tantita Security outfit and single out Tompolo’s firm for the pipeline protection contract, adding that it is only Niger-Deltans with vivid understanding of the topography of the area and the intricate locations of oil pipelines therein that can be trusted to carry out such delicate assignment as ensuring that oil thieves no longer have access to Nigeria’s Commonwealth.
Asonja urged other security outfits to cooperate with Tantita firm, as the company is determined to abolish the vandals and oil thefts, and also ensured they have no access to sabotage Nigeria’s economy.
