Delta State Government on Tuesday lamented the huge revenue loss incurred by the State due to the activities of pipeline vandals.
Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa, while speaking with Urhobo Traditional Rulers Council when they paid him a visit in his office in Asaba, urged the people to be more vigilant in securing the oil and gas pipelines in the state.
The governor said that allocations to the state from the Federation Account were always affected when crude oil from the state was wasted due to pipeline vandalism.
He said that the state government lost three million barrels of crude oil as a result of criminals attack on oil pipelines in April alone.
Governor Okowa told the delegation led by its Chairman, HRM Ovie Richard Ogbon, the Ohworode of Olomu Kingdom that the revenue accruing to the state as a result of its oil output would soon reduce.
“As a state, we should be more vigilant against pipeline vandals; they are doing us a lot of disservice.
“We lost in the month of April alone about three million barrels of oil and this will reflect in this July allocation.
“On the issue of derivation, instead of the 11 million barrels that we are supposed to produce as a state for the month of April, we have about eight million barrels.”
Okowa called on the traditional rulers to prevail on their subjects to cooperate with government to ensure the safety of the oil pipelines across the state.
“With the drop in the price of oil, the state cannot even pay its existing workers without overdraft, so is it right to employ more people?
“We must take decision in the best interest of the state without sentiments for the general good of Deltans.”
The governor pledged his administration’s resolve not to operate in secrecy, adding that his government was committed to ensuring fairness, equity and …Read More
Source:: New Mail
