By Camillus Eboh
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) – Nigeria’s oil-rich Rivers state will provide six gunboats to the navy for patrols as part of efforts to help combat oil theft, which has plagued the region, its governor said on Wednesday.
Rampant oil theft from pipelines and wells has crippled Nigeria’s oil industry in recent years, damaging government finances and stifling exports.
Rivers Governor Siminalayi Fubara told reporters in Port Harcourt, the state capital, that Nigeria’s recent oil output surge to 1.8 million barrels per day was due to a combination of state-level initiatives and federal government efforts.
“We are donating in the next few days six gunboats to the Nigerian Navy, the closest agency to us in this war against oil theft, to check this scourge in the difficult terrain, and also deploy them for regional security,” Fubara said.
“We are not just relying on the activities of the big national committees. We also have our internal mechanism to checkmate and discourage the vandalisation of these pipelines,” he said.
The gunboats will enhance the navy’s waterway patrols and response times, particularly near submerged oil export pipelines that are prone to attacks.
Fubara said the state and host communities are crucial to the fight against oil theft, emphasizing how their support in pipeline security and vandalism prevention has enabled the ongoing rehabilitation of the Trans Niger Pipeline, a key export link.
Beyond security measures, the state government is investing in education, healthcare, and infrastructure in areas prone to vandalism to provide alternative opportunities for young people.
“We are re-orienting them because we found out that the average age of the perpetrators of these crimes is about 15, 16 years,” Fubara said.
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh in Port Harcourt; Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Editing by Ros Russell)
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