Ogona Anita
…As surveillance firm reiterates commitment to sustainable energy security
The Federal Government has announced that for the first time in many years, it has met the oil and gas sector revenue benchmark for year 2025.
The announcement which was made by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) attributed the milestone to a sustained peace in the Niger Delta region championed by operations of security agencies and pipeline surveillance contractors like Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited PINL, among others.
Recall that the spokesman for FIRS Executive Chairman Dare Adekanmbi confirmed the development in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the statement, The Chairman, Dr. Zacch Adedeji, made the statement when he received the delegation of military top brass led by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa.
Adedeji had noted that the improved security situation in oil-producing areas had boosted production, resulting in greater profitability for companies in the sector and higher tax revenue for the federation.
“The coordinating director of the Large Tax Group made a presentation at our management meeting today on tax collection to date, and I am glad to say that, for the first time in a long while, we met our oil and gas target,” Adedeji said.
“This is actually as a result of the peace that has been maintained where oil and gas facilities are located. Production is happening, and companies are making more profit from it.”
He commended the Armed Forces and other security agencies for their contribution to maintaining stability, noting that the success aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to “taxing prosperity and not poverty.”
Prosperity can only be achieved in an atmosphere of peace. The Armed Forces are critical stakeholders and central to sustaining peace in the country,” he said.
Meanwhile,
Dr Akpos Mezeh, General Manager Community and Stakeholders Relations of PINL at a monthly engagement with pipeline host communities from Rivers, Abia and Imo States held in Port Harcourt, acknowledged that it’s activities contributed to the attainment of the nations oil revenue target.
Mezeh attributed the success to the robust partnership between the company and its host communities, and the consistent application of proven strategies by the company.
He said: “PINL recorded zero infraction in the past month contributing to increased national crude oil production. Federal Government has met its 2025 oil and gas sector revenue due to peace and stability in the communities hosting oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta, which the Chairman of FIRS has confirmed.
“These results underscore the strength and effectiveness of our partnership, which can be attributed to consistent application of proven strategies such as safety measures for surveillance personnel, timely salary payments,
rapid dispute resolution within communities, amongst others, which combined efforts have resulted in reduced downtime and increased trust”.
He announced some of the company’s achievements including interventions in an oil spill location in Yorla, Kpean community in Khana Local government area and bursting of illegal bunkering sites in Umubule and Oyigbo communities both in Rivers State.
Mezeh, used the medium to update the stakeholders on its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) packages for youths and women of the host communities.
He however, reiterated PINL’s commitment to sustainable energy security in the country, calling for support from all stakeholders.
“We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to sustainable energy security, in full alignment with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Federal Government. We have a shared responsibility to rescue our economy from further bleeding, and achieving this goal requires that all hands remain on deck.
“We look forward to your honest and constructive feedback on how we can sustain and surpass our outstanding records in combating pipeline vandalism, oil theft, and environmental pollution,” he said.
Speaking at the stakeholders meeting, Head of Field Operations, Eastern Corridor of the Project Monitoring Office, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, Engr Akponine Omojevwe called for effective collaboration between the host communities and PINL.
He noted that for the progress already achieved in the sector to be sustained stakeholders and host communities must synergize with the surveillance company.
“We want to emphasize that, there must be collaboration between PINL and the communities. PINL has gone the extra mile by approving scholarships for the host communities, they have gone out to make sure their areas of operations benefit from their activities, let us make sure that in this task of securing the pipelines, we support them, don’t destroy their equipments,” he urged.
Meanwhile, the collaborative security is operations between PINL and the Special Prosecution Task Force (SPT) of the Federal Government have led to the busting of two illegal refining sites in Oyigbo local government area of Rivers State.
The sites operating under the cover of a logistics company, Emekus Nigeria Ltd, and a large piggery used for active illegal refining of millions of litres of stolen petroleum products with equipment of the illegal business found on the sites.
While Emekus Nigeria Limited is located at Umuebule axis of Oyigbo, the piggery is located at a remote axis, east of the bank of the Imo River. Bags of stolen crude awaiting refining, 3 tanks of different capacities and a 33,000-litre capacity truck, among others were confiscated by the surveillance company.
During the inspection of the piggery led by CSP Omar Sini, Head of Investigation Special Prosecution Team of the Inter-Agency Task force on the Hydrocarbon Sector, a suspect, believed to be the farm manager took to his heels when he sited the team approaching the farm.
Andrew Ebikeme of PINL explained how the discovery was made; “This is an illegal refining site with products from stolen crude. The area was discovered using intelligence information provided by PINL community based surveillance guards.
“We came here and what we saw was mind boggling. As you can see, this is supposed to be a logistics base but behind we have this illegal activity going on. Right now this has been confiscated by the special prosecution team”.
He stated that to be able to make the discovery, PINL had maintained a healthy and cordial working relationship with the SPT and all other stakeholders on the protection of the nation’s oil assets including different strata of the host communities.
On his part, CSP Sini, Head of Investigation, Special Prosecution Team of the Inter-Agency Taskforce on Illicit Activities on the Hydrocarbon Sector confirmed the illegal refining sites were busted relying on credible intelligence from PINL surveillance officers.
He said that 3 suspects – a woman and 2 other accomplices were arrested at Emekus Nigeria Ltd and would be prosecuted immediately investigations were concluded.
He added that about 108 suspects were already remanded across the Niger Delta and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
CSP Sini stated that the SPT had secured 2 convictions with 38 active cases at trial levels and others at investigation level.
He also confirmed that sixty thousand liters of stolen products were contained in sacks inside a section of the premises of Emekus Nigeria Limited.
He also explained that the SPT was able to discover the piggery by intelligence information from PINL stressing that the location of the piggery was so remote that it could only take the help of a drone to be located.
