The House of
Representatives has asked for an end to the burning of seized bunkered
petroleum resources due to its impact on the environment.
The House urged the
Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, Chief of Naval, Vice Admiral Ibok
Ete-Ibas and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, to put an end to
the current system.
The House reached the
resolution following a motion moved by Francis Waive on Thursday.
Waive in his motion
conceded that the military have the power to seize illegal good, he however,
condemned the process of disposing the items.
Waive revealed that
bunkering has a double effect of denying Nigerians the resources and also
impacting on the environment.
The lawmaker citing
several examples of incidence of disposal and its unintended impacts on the
people.
“There have been
series of complaints from the Niger Delta region of illegal disposal of seized
crude oil by military personnel into the river and burning of the bunkering
materials, leading to explosion, air arid water pollution.
“About three months
ago, some military personnel went to Warri market, upon discovering some diesel
products in the market, destroyed the containers and poured the contents into
the drainage in the market and suddenly fire broke out;
“In January 2019,
military operatives launched an offensive against some vandals, setting ablaze
over 50 vehicles found to be carrying stolen oil products at their check point
along Okpare Road in Ughelii South Local Government Area of Delta State.”
To end the trend, the
lower chamber asked National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA)
to immediately stop the method of disposal of seized crude Oil by the military
along with the National Environmental Standards and Regulatory Agency(NESREA)
to cause a discontinuation of the current method that Military Personnel use in
disposing of seized crude oil
To finally understand
the process, the House mandated its Committee on Emergency and Disaster
Preparedness to investigate the matter and report back within six (6) weeks for
further legislative action.
