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At a meeting with military and intelligence chiefs to review progress made in the fight against insecurity, the lawmakers, lamented the massive loss of crude oil to illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta and the impact on the economy.

The meeting was a follow-up to a similar one held in August and was presided over by Senate President, Ahmad Lawan with Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, other principal officers of the Senate and chairmen of security related committees of the senate in attendance.

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Also present were Chief of Defence Staff, three service chiefs, Inspector General of Police, Directors-Generals of National Intelligence Agency(NIA), State Security Service(SSS) and Commandant General, National Security and Civic Defence Corps while the Acting Comptroller General of the Immigration Service was represented.

Lawan said before the senate went on its annual summer recess, lawmakers had expressed concerns with respect to the security situation in the country.

He tasked security agencies to arrest oil thieves and ensure they are prosecuted.

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“Those who have made every effort to steal our oil at an industrial scale, I’m sure some of them may not be that lucky to escape. We want to see trials of people who are caught because when that happens, citizens will know that nobody, no matter how high that person is, can go scot free if he or she decides to get involved in this kind of criminal activities.

“Of course, I will appeal to our courts – judiciary – once we have cases like this, we must give expeditious consideration, because these are the issues that, today, are militating against our stability and even against our democracy.

“We lose so much of our oil. As at the last count, the report was that we export just little above 900,000 barrels. And that is just about 50 percent because it is supposed to be 1.8million barrels per day and that is halving our revenues and our resources for development. So I want to appeal to the judiciary to give a special consideration once a suspected oil thief is taking to Court. We must prosecute them. It is not enough to just take away whatever they have stolen and say go and sin no more.”

Lawan said the lawmakers would continue to engage security agencies in the fight against insecurity.

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He said after the last meeting, there had been remarkable difference in the fight against insecurity by the armed forces and other security agencies. “We are very proud of that. We pray that this continue because we have seen the initiative and it is for us to finish the job. When Mr President spoke of ensuring that we return to normalcy by December 2022, I’m sure he had in mind what you have been doing recently.”

(Sun)