WHO ARE THE NIGERIAN OIL THIEVES?

NIGERIAN OIL THIEVES

The authorities must take more than cursory interest to contain this economic haemorrhage

A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that the United States government might have launched investigation into crude oil shipments from Saltpond platform, an oil facility off the coast of Ghana, should worry the Nigerian authorities. The platform, according to the report, has been shipping large quantities of crude oil from unknown sources to Europe and was uncovered in the course of a broader enquiry into how Nigeria’s crude oil is being stolen and exported by local and international syndicates.

In the WSJ report, a Saltpond official was said to have testified that the crude oil was procured from some Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) officials who had seized it from suspected oil thieves. In debunking the allegation, EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said the commission “is not an oil marketing company and could not have issued any invoice to any oil trader to lift confiscated crude oil from Nigeria. The issue of oil theft in Nigeria has assumed a frightening dimension over the years and this is not only to our government, but to civil society in Nigeria and we welcome the United States investigations into the crude oil shipments from Saltpond allegedly by oil thieves."

While we join EFCC in welcoming the investigation to unravel the mystery behind the crime against our nation for which there seems to be no antidote, we hasten to reiterate our oft-repeated position that the stealing of our crude oil involves local and international criminal cartels and some form of official complicity. It is therefore for that reason that we enjoin the Nigerian authorities to take interest in the US investigations into the issue that impinges not only on our economy but also on our national security.

Only two weeks ago, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State spoke about the scale, not only of oil theft in our country but the seeming complicity of those who are supposed to be responsible for bringing culprits to book. Said Oshimohole while receiving in audience the Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr Ade Abolurin: “I am told that a lot of vessels are seized in the course of tracking these characters whether at sea or around the riverine areas or in the creek…In the cause of these, one thing leads to another; either they are able to manipulate the system and you have interventions from some quarters and you are asked to let the people go or that they succeed in turning round to again recover what is taken from them.”

While it is noteworthy that the international community is paying attention to the monumental loss of Nigeria’s prime asset, it would appear that the local authorities seem to have given up on any serious attempts to rein in the criminal gangs. Yet there can be no solution until Nigerians themselves resolve to fight the menace. Last year, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) disclosed that the nation lost over 136 million barrels of crude oil estimated at $10.9 billion through pilfering and sabotage between 2009 and 2011. This was one of the findings in the audit report of operations in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, which covered the period under review.

As we have consistently argued on this page, while oil theft poses great danger to our economy and our security, it is also evident that the problem persists because there is some form of official complicity in what has become an organised crime. Aside the loss of enormous revenues, the security implications of these criminal activities are better imagined against the background that a huge chunk of the proceeds are used to buy arms. It is therefore time that the authorities take serious interest in unmasking who these criminals are, checkmating them and bringing them to book.