Stop sabotaging oil facilities – Lawmaker warns N’Deltans

Bayelsa State lawmaker and prominent member of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Israel Sunny-Goli, has warned the people of the Niger Delta against sabotaging oil facilities in the region. Sunny-
Goli, who is the member representing Brass Constituency 1 in the state House of Assembly, rather solicited support for the current efforts by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu and the Federal Government to re-position the oil industry. The lawmaker, who spoke in Yenagoa on Friday, said such support would assist the Muhammadu Buhari administration to rid the region of corruption that had afflicted the country over the years. Consequently, he pledged to mobilise the people of his constituency and the Niger Delta to support the current efforts of the Federal Government to sanitise the oil industry. Part of the support, he promised, was to provide information that would expose economic saboteurs in the coastal communities of the Niger Delta region. Sunny-Goli, who is the Minority Leader and House Committee Shairman on Niger Delta Development Commission said since Kachikwu’s appointment as the Minister of State for Petroleum, he had demonstrated that the reformation of the oil industry was a top priority of the Buhari administration.According to him, the people of the Niger Delta region need to support the current efforts of Kachikwu to re-position Nigeria’s oil industry as the people of the region would be the greatest beneficiaries in terms of development and empowerment. Sunny-Goli stated, “President Muhammadu Buhari has provided another opportunity to re-position the oil industry through Dr. Ibe Kachikwu and we the people of the Niger Delta, especially in Bayelsa, must support the efforts of the current administration. “The recent decision to build a mega filling station in each senatorial district is a welcome development. Aside the fact that it will ensure efficient distribution and country-wide penetration of petroleum products, for us in coastal communities of Bayelsa it is a welcome development as we would now have access to petroleum products. “Also the decision to discuss and negotiate with international oil companies and banks to raise capital for new drilling which would raise Nigeria’s output to 2.5 million barrels per day is a laudable idea which the people of the region must support.” On pipeline vandalism and attack on oil facilities, Sunny- Goli commended the recent moves by the Federal Government to mobilise the military to prevent sabotage. He stressed that other security agencies should collaborate with the military to rid the Niger Delta region of economic saboteurs.