Governor Nyesom Wike has ordered all 23 Local Government Area Chairmen to hire bulldozers and destroy every identified illegal crude oil bunkering and artisanal refinery site in Rivers State.
The governor also asked the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Eboka Friday to provide adequate security for the chairmen as they embark on the mass destruction of illegal refinery sites across the state.
The Governor gave the order on Wednesday during a meeting with the council Chairmen, the State Commissioner of Police and the Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps ( NSCDC) in Port Harcourt.
He stated that with the receipt of the list of identified illegal refinery sites, the state government would provide financial support to the Local Government Area Chairmen to hire bulldozers and swamp buggies for the purpose of destroying all the sites.
He urged the Commissioner of Police to give the Local Government Area chairmen adequate security personnel to go and destroy all illegal refinery sites stressing that government would not allow those engaged in illegitimate business to operate in Rivers State.
“One thing I want to say and which is very clear, and like everybody knows, I am not against anybody making money. But, we cannot allow people to make money, while others are dying.”
The governor, however, warned that he would personally visit the Inspector General of Police, the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Chief of Army Staff in Abuja, to report any of their personnel implicated in illegal crude oil bunkering and artisanal refinery activities in Rivers State.
