Nigeria’s government said it will prosecute vandals who attack the country’s pipelines.
The warning comes amid fears of a revived militant movement in Niger Delta.
The Nigerian information minister Lai Mohammed said the government would deal “ruthlessly” with those who engaged in pipeline vandalism.
A statement from the office of Information said:”Government is now fully ready to prosecute them according to the laws of the country that deal with economic saboteurs and vandalism,” Mohammed told Reuters in a telephone interview.
“None of them will go free when arrested. Government will make sure that they are prosecuted and pay for the crime they committed against the nation.”
Troops have been sent to protect oil facilities amid fears that recent attacks could lead to a return to violence which previously crippled the oil industry in Africa’s biggest economy.
In February, unidentified militants hit a Shell underwater pipeline, forcing the company to shut down its 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal.
President Muhammadu Buhari is set to travel to Equatorial Guinea today for talks with the country’s president about combating crude oil theft, attacks on oil rigs, piracy and arms smuggling in the Gulf of Guinea.
Buhari will be joined by security officials, including the defence minister and the national security adviser.