Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has stated that the N20 million pledged for the fight against oil bunkering will only be distributed to five local government areas.
Only five local government areas, according to the Governor, have shown commitment to the fight.
On Friday, he met with the heads of security agencies and the five Local Government Chairmen at the Government House in Port-Harcourt.
Gov. Wike pledged in January to give N20 million to each of the 23 local government councils to help them hire equipment to destroy illegal refineries in their jurisdiction.
The promise came on the heels of an earlier pledge of N2 million for any oil bunkering site discovered.
However, during the meeting on Friday, the Governor stated that only five local government areas had met the criteria for receiving the fund.
“I will not give money to a Local Government unless I see a commitment,” he said. No, I’m not going to do that.
I want to see dedication. As a result, I have only approved funds for those who have demonstrated a strong commitment.”
The Governor went on to say that the names of members of the task forceDS that the State intends to form to combat illegal bunkering have been forwarded to the Department of State Services for profiling.
Addressing the DSS, the Governor stated, “It is critical that when you profile them, you do so quickly so that they can respond.”
