Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

The management of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has resolved with the leadership of the Department of State Services (DSS) to battle some of national security challenges.

The agreement was reached when the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Corporation, Mele Kolo Kyari, led his management team to pay a courtesy visit on the Director-General of DSS, Yusuf Magaji Bichi, in Abuja on Thursday.

The statement signed by the DSS Public Relations Officer, Peter Afunanya, said that the meeting was to deepen existing inter-agency relations between the two organisations.

“During the visit, the GMD stated that the corporation has, in recent times, faced some challenges of National Security significance.

“He identified these to include the loss of revenue from product stealing, deliberate damage to product pipelines, cross-border smuggling of petroleum products and long indebtedness to the corporation by persons and corporate bodies that have reneged on business agreements relating to product allocation,” the statement read.

It further pointed out that Kyari equally lamented the impact of these on revenue generation of the country and expressed concern that the dwindling revenues affect government’s ability to realise its objectives.

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“Consequently, he sought the assistance of the service in containing the threats as well as recovering the debts in line with its mandate of protecting the nation against economic sabotage.

“We identified the service as a strategic stakeholder in Nigeria’s national security management and enjoined it to continue to protect NNPC’s critical assets for the good of the nation.

“Underscoring the significance of the DSS in the national security architecture of the country, he requested the support of the service in the corporation’s frontier exploration efforts in parts of the country,” the statement read.

Responding, the DG DSS affirmed that the service was actually a frontline partner of the NNPC, adding that in line with the renewed interagency relations which he had always identified as an effective paradigm for modern security management, he pledged the support of the service to the corporation.

“He emphasised the need for protection of the nation’s economy to enable the government to continue to perform its fundamental objective role of ensuring the security and welfare of citizens as enshrined in the constitution.

“Considering the important role of the NNPC in the economy of the nation, the DG charged it to take advantage of the visit to consolidate its collaboration with the service,” the statement read.