By; AMOS TAUNA, Kaduna
A group of youth under the aegis of Arewa Youth Assembly (AYA), has appealed to the leadership of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the federal government to take decisive steps towards ensuring the safety of the nation’s pipelines surveillance.
The youth in a statement issued by its Deputy Speaker, Abdulsalam Mohammed Kazeem, said that oil being the mainstay of the country’s economy, should be handled with seriousness for the survival of the country.
The statement alleged that information at its disposal is that the NNPC under the leadership of Malam Mele K. Kyari and the Federal Government is planning to assign the job of pipelines surveillance to an Oweizide Ekpemupolo popularly known as Government Tompolo.
The statement alleged, “This is not only surprising, but unbelievable that as a nation, we will entrust our most viable source of revenue to a notorious oil bunkerer. Bunkering is synonymous to Tompolo, his name signifies pipeline vandalism, oil theft and mutilation of government facilities and above all militancy.”
As the youth of Northern Nigeria, they also alleged that Tompolo is on the same radar with terrorists like Abubakar Shekau, Bello Turji, Nnamdi Kanu, Sunday Igboho, Mohammed Yusuf among others, who sees nothing good in the country, rather than clamour for its destruction, disregarding its unity, and showing maximum disrespect for the rule of law and government of the day.
The group stated that as youth of this region who have been keen observers of governance as it affects the citizens and the nation in general, they would not fold their hands and watch the government make such a grave mistake of awarding a sensible contract of this nature to somebody with questionable character.
The group called on the NNPC to save the country’s national assets by not awarding it to Tompolo, alleging that the effect will be disastrous to the nation’s economy.
It noted that in order for the youth and future generation to learn that hard work pays and to shun cultism, militancy, cyber crime, such people like Tompolo should not be given national asset to secure.
