TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has called on the Federal government to come out strongly and partner the states to fight oil theft.
Speaking during a courtesy visit by Konrad Adenauer (German Foundation) with Mr Andreas Lammel and Dr Joachim Pfeiffer of the German Federal Parliament, at the Government House, Port Harcourt, Governor Wike reiterated that oil bunkering had continued to worsen because of the participation of security agencies.
He said on “the issue of oil theft, some of the security agencies are part of it. When you see oil bunkering, the security agencies are involved. They are fully involved.
“If the Federal government comes strongly and partner the states, you will find out that we will be able to solve some of the problems.
“Also, we have the problem of politicisation of security. It is unfortunate in this country.”
Governor Wike said that the security framework of the state was negatively affected by oil majors patronising cult groups for surveillance jobs.
He said that the State Security Council took a decision in liaison with the oil majors to stop the patronage of cult groups for such jobs.
“We have told oil majors to patronise official state security agencies and stop patronising cult groups for surveillance jobs.
“This is because part of the problem is the oil majors continued patronage of cult groups,” he said.
He called for collaboration with the German Government and the German Foundation in the fight against insecurity.
Governor Wike also called for partnership with the Konrad Adenauer (German Foundation) to attract German investors in the area of agriculture to create employment.
Earlier, the Country Representative of Konrad Adenauer (German Foundation), Dr Vladimir Kreck, said the visit was aimed at advancing economic development.
He said: “We have been providing support for the democratic development of Nigeria since 2001. In Rivers State, we have been providing capacity building for lawmakers and security agencies.”
He said that the foundation invited two German federal lawmakers to Nigeria to acquaint themselves on the economic development programmes of the country.
Also speaking, a German federal lawmaker, Andreas Lammel, said the main objective of the visit was to understand the economic development process and discuss oil production and development in Rivers.
Dr Joachim Pfeifer, another German federal lawmaker said this was his first visit to Nigeria and he was interested in building cooperation between the two countries.