The Nigerian Army has raised the alarm over alleged plot by some foreign media and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs)   to rubbish its successes in the counter insurgency war in the North East.
Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Usman, who made this known, yesterday said the Nigerian army has not in anyway, engaged in human rights violation in its counter-insurgency operations.
He assured that the army does not condone any form of human rights abuse.
Meanwhile, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Gabriel Olonisakin has assured the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Emmanuel Kachikwu, of the readiness of the Armed Forces to interface with the corporation as regard criminal activities in the oil sector. The CDS gave this assurance when the GMD NNPC paid him a courtesy visit at his office at Defence Headquarters, Abuja.
Gen Olonisakin noted that already, the Nigerian Navy has put up a lot of initiatives at ensuring that the issues of pipeline vandalism, piracy and oil theft are addressed. He, however, asserted that military needs some support in order  to put a stop to oil bunkering and other forms of criminalities,  causing Nigeria billions of naira in revenue.  The CDS further said that it was the duty of the military to safeguard the strategic assets of the nation.
Earlier in his remarks, Kachikwu solicited for Nigerian Armed Forces collaboration in the fight against oil theft, pipeline vandalism and other vices in the Nigeria maritime environment.
The GMD NNPC stated that his visit was predicated on the proposal of the NNPC to President Muhammadu Buhari, to partner with the Army Corps of Engineers for pipeline maintenance and the overseeing of the security of its property.
The visit, he said was part of efforts to work out modalities under the CDS’ supervision to have the military protect NNPC’s equipment and assets. He pointed out that the NNPC was evolving a holistic attitude aimed at making sure that the best manpower was used.
“We are trying to equip the Navy with boats for patrols; we are trying to get trackers and central system to be able to monitor every vessel that comes in and out of the country. We have equally spoken with the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) on other effective way of collaboration,” he said.
Kachikwu revealed that crude theft last year was in excess of 250,000 barrels on average, daily, which is basically one fifth of the entire national production. He pointed out, however, that the ugly trend has reduced since he came on board as the new GMD NNPC, even though he was quick to admit that a lot more still required to be done to finally curb the menace.  Those in attendance at the meeting were the Principal Staff  Officers and Directors of the Defence Headquarters.