This was the submission of the deputy governor of Delta State, Mr Kingsley Otuaro during the media conference of the Delta State Advocacy Committee Against Oil and Gas Facilities at Government House Annexe in Warri.
The two-day event, which held at Ogulagha town in Burutu Local Government Area of the state with the theme: “Sustaining Peace Building Potentials and Surveillance of Oil and Gas Assets Through Community Engagement” was premised to address the issues of vandalism of oil and gas installation, and illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta region.
Otuaro at the media chat in Warri, stressed that lack of employment was the major reason most youths indulged in crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in state.
He added that the state government was doing the needful through programmes centred on the provision of basic skill acquisition for youths.
“The act of criminality against crude oil installations is caused due to unemployment rate in the state, but the state government has been creating skill programme, in line with the SMART agenda of the state.
The committee, it will be recalled, was set up by the state governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, on January 2016, and chaired by his deputy, Deacon Kingsley Otuaro, to curtail crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the state through coordinated advocacy.
Otuaro further opined that the committee also sensitises host communities on the need to see themselves as joint owners of the oil and gas assets, protecting the environment for the physical health and general prosperity of present and future generations of Deltans as well as boost investors’ confidence in the state through enduring partnership among corporate, non-governmental and host communities.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), Mr Osagie Okunbor, has thanked the Delta State government for organising the conference.
Speaking on his keynote address, Okunbor said an oil and gas task force would be set up to engender social and educational investment programmes that would include provision of energy to oil-bearing host communities, job creation, the use of locally manufactured goods and the implementation of projects determined by the host communities as enshrined in the General Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU).
Okunbor further enjoined participants at the conference to come up with brilliant ideas to further sustain the peace and securing oil and gas installations in Delta State.
Other members of the committee who graced the briefing, were the Commissioner for Youth Development, Mr Asupa Forteta, Chairman, Inland WaterWay, Evangelist Boro Pudu and Director General, Security Matters, Delta State, David Tonwe, among others.
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