The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Command in Edo has deployed 800 personnel for special operations during the yuletide.
Mr Makinde Ayinla, state Commandant of the corps, disclosed this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Wednesday.
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Ayinla said that the deployment was in line with the Commandant General of the Corps directive to all commands to ensure a crime free celebration in their areas during the period. He said that the special operations include traffic management, pipeline monitoring and highway patrol. Others, he said are rescue and disaster management, counter terrorism and protection of critical national assets.
Earlier, The Herald reported that the NSCDC in Akwa Ibom said it had arrested 10 suspected illegal Liquified Petroleum Gas operators in the state.
The State Commandant of the corps, Mr Adeyinka Ayinla, made the disclosure while addressing newsmen at the end of routine surveillance in Uyo on Thursday.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the routine surveillance was in conjunction with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in the state. He said that the corps was in collaboration with DPR to fish out illegal LPG refilling points in the state.
“We are going to investigate the matter and after a thorough investigation, we will take them to a court or pay some penalties to DPR. We have been pleading with the people of the state not to engage in illegal business. This kind of business can kill and that is why we are telling them to desist from it,” Ayinla said.
He advised gas operators to stop the illegal business, saying that anyone caught would face the wrath of the law.
Responding, Mr Tamunoiminabo Kingsley-Sundaye, Operations Controller of DPR, said that the department was against illegal LPG refilling points in the state.
“We went on joint action with NSCDC to ensure that we dismantle the illegal LPG refilling points in the state. This process is not allowed, they are not facilities, people converted residential houses and commercial areas to gas plants, where they turned cylinders to become vessels.
“This process we will continue to say that the mode is not known to any known standard in oil and gas industry not only in Nigeria and to the World,” he said.