NSCDC Destroys 450 Illegal Refineries, Arrests 3000 Vandals

The commandant general, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC),  Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu said the corps has destroyed about 450 illegal refineries,  arrested over 3,000 vandals and confiscated a lot of vehicles which were forfeited by the court and auctioned off since he assumed office in July, 2015.

The NSCDC boss who stated this when he played host to the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru , requested that the corps  be assisted with arms and equipment that will enable them  combat pipeline vandalism in the country.

The CG stated that with adequate capacity, the NSCDC could eradicate the incidence of vandalism of critical infrastructure such as power line, pipeline, telecoms base station and other national assets.

His words, “We have challenges, many challenges. Number one, we don’t have adequate equipment to fight the vandals, especially, in the area of arms. We discovered that the vandals are a syndicate and they use sophisticated weapons and they would do anything to get rid of anyone that came to block their source of income.

“Thus, we have this problem of equipment and you know the budget is so tight that after going to the budget office, you make a request and so on, you end up being given a small envelope; that envelope is grossly inadequate,” he said.

Muhammadu added, “We need more vehicles. We need arms. We need tents.

We are not requesting for fund sir, we just need equipment and we are assuring you that if you give us the goods, we would deliver the devil in a very short time.”