By Abba Hamisu Sani
Africa-Press – Nigeria. The Nigerian economy suffers a lot, as oil bunkering remains one of the security and economic sabotages that cost the nation a huge lost.It is estimated that oil theft cost Nigeria 5,143,540,460.00 dollars (4.3 trillion Naira) from 2017 to 2022.
The Federal Government put different measures to avert the situation but proved unsuccessful.
It could be recalled that former President Muhammadu Buhari had established a special investigative panel on Oil theft.
The former National Security Adviser Baba Gana Mungunu inaugurated the panel on December 6, 2022 and was given 10 weeks to complete the assignment with extensive terms of reference to investigate all aspects of crude oil theft/losses in all its ramifications.It commenced work same day
The Panel Investigation outcome
The report of the Investigation panel attributed the causes of the oil racketeering to lack of proper reporting of crude oil production ,illegal refining ,theft from wellheads and diversion from sophisticated pipelines network.
According to a statement signed by the former head of Strategic Communication Office of the ex-National Security Adviser Moguno Zakari Usman, the panel engaged key stakeholders within and outside the oil and gas industry ,including state governments ,Ministries ,Departments and Agencies ,security agencies ,regulatory bodies international and Indigenous oil companies ,traditional institutions,host communities and artisanal refiners.
The statement also noted that, in discharging the responsibility of the panel, it received and reviewed several memoranda and reports on oil theft and losses.
“During the assignment, the panel discovered several layers of involvement in the illegal theft of crude oil despite the best efforts of the Armed Forces and other security agencies to combat the activities of the oil thieves.
“The panel also observed that crude oil losses arose from a lack of proper reporting of crude oil production, illegal refining; theft from wellheads and diversion from sophisticated pipelines networks.” the report stated.
The panel attributed losses to the absence of a robust industry-wide metering system and an unworkable security arrangement.
Major -General Barry Ndiomu (retired), is the chairman of the panel.While submitting the report He called for quick implementation of the report and asserted that if the government implements the recommendations, oil theft/losses would be adequately addressed.
Receiving the report, Monguno thanked the panel for keeping to the timeline and for addressing the issues comprehensively. He assured that the government would study the report and see to its immediate implementation, especially the recommendations with short-term perspectives.
Why the menace persist despite such reports
The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative is the Federal government Agency saddle with the responsibilities of ensuring transparency in extractive Industries in Nigeria
The agency reiterated Nigeria’s huge losses from oil theft ,sabotage and crude oil adjustments amounting to 4.3 trillion Naira within five years(2017-2022).
This is because of prolific criminality, the complicity of state actors, and incompetence, and carelessness by successive governments.
Obonnaya Orji is the Executive Secretary of NEITI .Said 7,143 pipeline vandalism cases were recorded in five years with 208.63 million barrels of crude and product losses.He stated this at the International Pipeline Technology and Security Conference in Abuja.
During the period, the country spent N471.49 billion to repair and maintain the pipelines. NEITI’s 2021 Oil and Gas Industry Report said 68.47 million barrels of crude, amounting to N1.96 trillion, was lost in the year.
Oil and Gas Sector accounted for 72.26 percent of the Nigeria’s total export
Nigeria’s tepid response to the massive haemorrhage baffles the world. As Orji reminded the audience, the oil and gas sector accounted for 72.26 per cent of Nigeria’s total export and foreign exchange earnings, and 40.55 per cent of the government’s revenue.
Meanwhile, the country is broke, and borrows for everything, including capital and recurrent expenditure. It borrows to service debts!
In August, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, visiting some oil production sites in the Niger Delta, admitted that 400,000 barrels of crude were being stolen daily, equivalent, he said, to $4 million lost every day. Since then, Nigerians are yet to see any new positive action to stop the heist.
The theft become sophisticated, with the thieves deploying electronic surveillance systems
In their illegal enterprise the state has not responded adequately.The criminals activities advanced to the level of well coordinated crime through employing technology in executing the crime as the mountain surveillance gadgets at the points of their activities to monitor the movement of security agents guarding the pipelines .
Reports persist of collusion between the security agents, military, police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and this requires strong, decisive action. Years of awarding lucrative pipeline protection contracts to private security companies, some of them run by ex-Niger Delta militants previously accused of sabotaging infrastructure, have also had limited impact.
For once, the companies accuse the military, notably Nigerian Navy personnel, of disrupting their work, and being allegedly neck-deep in the theft.
Measures to tackle the bunkering
All security personnel currently deployed in the fight against oil theft should be shipped out of the theatre, and new teams trained and deployed there.
The government should stop pretending to be helpless and stamp out oil theft. Nigeria is number one among the world’s top five countries with the highest incidence of oil theft; its 400,000 barrel per day loss drowns out all the other four combined.
Mexico in second place loses 5,000 to 10,000bpd; the next three, Iraq, Russia, and Indonesia combined, lose less than 15,000bpd according to Canada’s Financial Post newspaper.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited says it spent N34.5 billion on pipeline maintenance in the 18 months to June 2022, and awarded a 48 billion Naira per year security contract to a private security company. The results have been middling.
There should be a thorough investigation of the theft and of the security personnel charged with the oil assets protection.Ex-Rivers State Governor and the current Minister of Federal Capital Territory ,Nyesom Wike ,publicly accused security personnel of involvement in illegal oil bunkering and crude theft.
Nigeria”s dysfunctional governance is deepened by the bizarre practice of the Navy burning seized vessels and their illegal crude cargo without investigation,prosecution.
There is need for President Tinubu to order an immediate halt to such outlandish behaviour .To secure the pipelines ,it need new strategies ,new leadership,and external help
Without further delay ,it is imperative for the Tinubu’s leadership to mobilise the security agencies to stop the crime.
It is also important for the present administration to implement the findings of the special investigative panel chaired by the Major -General Barry Ndiomu established by the former President Buhari.
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