From Owen Akenzua, Asaba
Delta State government has assured the Defence Headquarters Joint Monitoring team on oil pipeline of collaboration to ensure that oil theft is reduced to the barest minimum in the state.
Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Dr Kingsley Emu made this known yesterday when he played host to the joint monitoring team in his office in Asaba.
Emu stated that for the monitoring team to succeed in its assignment, it must have the willpower to do the right thing in order to get to the root cause of the problem.
He equally noted that vandalisation of oil pipelines was affecting the economy as a lot of revenue that would have been coming to the country was lost to oil theft.
The SSG said the state had put in place formal and informal set ups monitoring the oil pipelines in collaboration with the relevant agencies and that though it came at a huge cost to the government it was worth it as it had helped greatly in monitoring the oil pipelines in the state.
Earlier, leader of the delegation, Major-General Jamiu Jimoh said the team was in the state to monitor the activities of stakeholders in the oil and gas sector with a view to ensuring sustainable and increased oil production in the country.
He said the team was established on the directive of President Bola Tinubu under the supervision of the Chief of Defence Staff, which comprised relevant stakeholders within the security sector, government agencies, and the private sector.
