It’s time to expose oil thieves.
It’s time to expose oil thieves.
To combat this growing economic crime, the government must muster the guts.
Government Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo is said to have found around 58 unlawful sites in Delta and Bayelsa States where crude oil is so blatantly stolen, only two months after his organisation was given a security contract to monitor oil theft in the Niger Delta area. One of these is a four-kilometer oil pipeline that Delta State bunkerers utilise on the trans-Forcados pipeline. Tompolo, a former military commander, recently said, “We are performing the task jointly with the security agents, NNPCL, and others. “We are only supplying intelligence to the security to help them in their task. Over eight to nine years have passed since the theft began.
Because of widespread oil theft, Nigeria has struggled in recent years to achieve its Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota, which has had a detrimental effect on government income and reserve accumulation. The fact that Nigeria is struggling and badly handicapped at a time when several oil-producing nations are making billions off the Russia-Ukraine bonanza is even more terrible. The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) estimates that between January 2021 and February 2022, oil theft and vandalism cost Nigeria more than 115,000 barrels per day (bpd). Recently, Gbenga Komolafe, the head of the NUPRC, said that these criminal gangs had stolen nearly $3 billion worth of oil over the time period.
Oil theft has reached historic heights in terms of volume. It was appropriately referred to as a “existential danger” by the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG). Nigeria lost nearly 136 million barrels of crude oil valued at $10.9 billion via sabotage between 2009 and 2011, according to an assessment of the country’s oil and gas operations commissioned by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). Authorities on the field must do more than just express regret.
Nigeria’s crude oil production has always been plagued by issues with accountability and transparency, as many can confirm. The London Economist recently said in a study on Nigeria’s mishandling of the oil and gas industries: “…oil is also being stolen at a record pace and merchants’ statistics indicate production at much below the government’s numbers. There is a confusing array of figures that describe Africa’s largest oil sector. Nobody is aware of the accuracy of any of them, nor does anybody know how much oil Nigeria produces. The true frightening extent of corruption would be revealed if there were a powerful person.
There is no question that the theft of crude oil occurrences today constitute a serious danger to the economic and ecology of the country, but it is clear that the issue continues due to state cooperation. Only because so many law enforcement officers are corrupted is the threat becoming more skilled and sophisticated. Oil theft in Nigeria is a purposeful crime committed by a syndicate made up of oil firms, the military, and other parties that has been going on for more than 40 years, lamented Mike Ejiofor, a former director of the Department of State Service (DSS). For example, a report of his criminal activity that he had sent to the “authorities” years earlier was dismissed since the people in control were heavily engaged in illicit oil bunkering.
This may help to explain why the trial of a select few suspects who have been caught is often delayed by the influence of certain powerful people who may also be involved in the profitable criminal operation. Unfortunately, when these criminal cartels gain confidence in their evil deeds, they invest in barges, canoes, speed boats, and enormous wooden boats that they employ to steal property from our nation. The federal government and its agencies must take action to stop the large-scale theft of crude oil, which is unquestionably a danger to both our national security and the economic security of Nigerians.
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