Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri made this known yesterday in Yenagoa during a meeting with local government chairmen and traditional rulers.
The governor said the ugly situation was discovered by security operatives on reconnaissance operations.
He urged royal fathers to educate their subjects on the dangers of the illegal theft business to human health and the environment.
Diri said: “The report I received recently is that at illegal bunkering sites, they now have children and women, which is a dimension I have never heard of before.
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“Sometimes, when the military are authorised to destroy those camps and they get there on reconnaissance, they discover that children and women are used to shield those places. So, we all have to work together in our domains to educate our people.
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“There was a situation where the military moved in and discovered that children and women were there and had to withdraw.”
He urged the monarchs and council chairmen to take steps to curb the menace, which he said, was prevalent in Southern Ijaw, Ekeremor, Brass and Nembe, four out of the eight local government councils in Bayelsa State.
The governor also charged the monarchs to report oil bunkering sites in their domains, stressing that the ugly trend could be addressed through collaborative efforts.
Many illegal oil refineries are being destroyed in the Niger Delta as a result of the renewed onslaught by security agencies in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s zero tolerance for stealing of petrol and crude oil.