*Has capacity to achieve int’l benchmarks
A retired Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS) in charge of Intelligence and Operations Department, Mr. Dennis Amachree, has described the Director-General of the State Service (DG SS), Alh. YM Bichi (fwc) as a core professional, who understands the pivotal role intelligence plays in internal security equation.
According to the security expert, Bichi has the capacity to achieve all known international benchmarks for the secret service, hence the compelling need for proper funding of the foremost domestic intelligence agency by the Federal Government.
It will be recalled that the superlative performance of the DG SS, had necessitated a renewal of his appointment on September 13th, 2022, by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The DSS under Bichi has continued to receive accolades in its core area of intelligence gathering, as attested to by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Idris Wase.
In the course of debate on insecurity on the floor of the House last year, Wase had shocked members, and by extension Nigerians, with the revelation that the DSS shared 44 intelligence reports to relevant authorities before the July 5, 2022 attack on the Kuje Medium Security Correctional Centre in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Since his first appointment (13 September 2018), Bichi has successfully steered the DSS out of controversy, through the observance of due process, rule of law, training, infrastructural revolution, as well as enhanced welfare.
“Alh. YM Bichi, fwc is one of the core professionals, the DSS has produced in recent times.
“A man of very few words but one that understands the exigencies of intelligence for internal security.
“His success, I can attribute to two things. First, the ability to understand his workforce: proper training, equipping and regular welfare.
“Second, the timely sharing of actionable intelligence with the Police and other sister security agencies.
“Bichi has achieved a lot and is on his way to achieving international benchmarks, if he could be properly funded”, Amachree said.
[1/10, 5:06 AM] Prince Bashir Adefaka: War against oil-theft yielding results, as Nigeria’s oil production rises to 1.35m bpd
Report has it that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) crude output boosted in December 2022 as Nigeria partly reversed a long-term decline in output as its military war against oil theft in the country yields good results.
According to a Bloomberg survey, OPEC increased production by 150,000 barrels per day, almost all of which came from Nigeria. OPEC production totalled 29.14 million barrels per day, the report said.
But even if the December increase lifted Nigeria’s production to 1.35 million barrels per day from about 900,000 barrels per day two months earlier, the country’s output is still only half of what it was a decade ago.
Although the official data from OPEC and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) had not been released as of yesterday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) had put its production in the early part of December at 1.59 million barrels per day while the NUPRC said it was 1.4 million barrels per day.
For over a year, Nigeria has been unable to meet its OPEC allocation, falling far below the roughly 1.8 million barrels per day quota and losing as much as 700,000 barrels per day to sabotage and shut-ins.
The Nigerian government has recently taken a rash of decisions to tackle the embarrassing situation , hiring local security groups as pipelines surveillance contractors.
In addition, the NNPC has announced that it can now monitor Nigeria’s oil infrastructure in real time with its new automated platform and has inaugurated a whistle-blowers scheme which rewards persons who report the activities of suspected oil thieves.
The report stated that other OPEC producers are sticking to curbs agreed late last year to keep supply and demand in the global market in balance.
Oil supplies from key member countries Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iraq were largely unchanged, with Saudi output at 10.48 million barrels per day, it said.
Crude supplies from OPEC+ are expected to come under pressure after further European Union (EU) sanctions on Russia took effect last month. A group of ministers from member states will meet on February 1, to review output policy.
The National Assembly recently passed a N21.83 trillion budget, pegging Nigeria’s crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel from the previous $70 per barrel while production for 2023 was put at 1.69 million barrels per day. President signed the appropriation bill into on Tuesday January 3, 2023.
