In January 2019, security operatives conducting surveillance on oil installations in Lagos State, nabbed Mr. Shuaibu Ogunmola, an alleged kingpin of oil pipeline vandalism in Lagos State, who it claimed was responsible for loss of millions of litres of petroleum products daily.
Ogunmola, who had been arrested some time back and released under questionable circumstances, had been on the watchlist of the security operatives for several months following his nefarious activities, mostly around the Atlas Cove and adjoining communities.
He had operated a thriving oil theft racket for decades, hacking pipelines in some island communities in Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State, along the strategic System 2B pipeline network Right-of-Way. His activities had through the years, led to loss of millions of litres of products along the Lagos Atlas Cove strip.
Ogunmola, who the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, described as the ultimate godfather of oil thieves in Ilashe and adjoining settlements, consigned portions of his territory and offered operating rights to other thieves to operate and bring in returns at agreed rates and terms at the detriment of the country.
From proceeds of the crime, Ogunmola, it was alleged, had acquired a luxury hotel in Ilashe community, along the Badagry Creek and was living an ostentatious lifestyle of wealth and opulence.
This is coming several years after the menace of oil theft — comprising both crude oil and petroleum products theft — reached alarming proportion and was brought to the knowledge of the populace.
Despite the many cries, dangers, effects and campaigns against the crime over the years, Nigeria is still reeling under the burden of this illicit activity.
Nigeria’s former finance minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had in 2012, brought the attention of the international community to the large scale crude oil theft in Nigeria, when she disclosed that Nigeria was losing about 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day, translating to over $1 billion monthly.
Almost a decade after, the menace seems unabated as the Nigerian economy is still at the mercy of cabals, who are enjoying the backing, patronage and protection of the country’s political elite; as well as criminals and saboteurs who are daily fuelling organized crime, insecurity and crisis in the Niger Delta.
As a result of this, Nigeria is currently bleeding from the massive loss of revenue to crude oil theft and vandalism that had continued unhindered in the country and which seems to have defied all solutions.
Putting it in perspective, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, had stated that between 2003 and 2005, over 2,258 cases of oil pipeline vandalism were recorded; while Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, disclosed that since 2012, it has removed more than 160 illegal theft points from its facilities.
