The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation- Mr Mele Kyari, has requested the assistance of the Department of State Services in its bid to recover outstanding debts as well as check pipeline vandalism.
Kyari made the request when he led the management team of the NNPC on a courtesy visit to the Director-General of the DSS, Alhaji Yusuf Bichi, in Abuja, on Thursday.
The NNPC boss also sought the assistance of the DSS in checking cross-border smuggling of petroleum products.
The visit was designed to deepen the existing inter-agency relations between the two organisations.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the DSS, Dr Peter Afunanya, made available to newsmen via email.
The NNPC GMD was quoted as saying the corporation had, in recent times, faced some challenges of national security significance.
The statement read in part, “He (NNPC GMD) identified these challenges to include the loss of revenue from product stealing; deliberate damage to product pipelines; cross-border smuggling of petroleum products and long indebtedness to the corporation by persons and corporate bodies that have reneged on business agreements relating to product allocation.”
Alhaji Yusuf Bichi, the Director-General, Department of State Services (DSS), on Thursday promised to support the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to protect the corporation’s critical assets.
Dr Peter Afunanya, the Public Relations Officer of the DSS revealed this in a statement in Abuja.
He said the visit was in line with the renewed interagency relations often identified as an effective paradigm for modern security management.
Bichi said the protection of the nation’s economy was to enable the government to continue to perform its fundamental role of providing security and welfare for its citizens as enshrined in the Constitution.
The DSS boss urged the team to take advantage of the visit to consolidate the existing collaboration between the two agencies.
