OIL THEFT: BEYOND THE LAMENTATIONS
The authorities must do more to stem the economic haemorrhage
With figures ranging from 200,000 to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) depending on who is making the claim, Nigeria is losing billions of dollars annually to oil thieves who now operate as an international criminal cartel. Aside from the environmental nightmare that this is causing in Niger Delta, the shortfall in revenue is already telling on our national budgets. To compound the challenge, there are also reports of massive divestments by some international oil companies. What is perhaps most disturbing is that the federal government seems to have no clue or the will to arrest the situation, leaving most Nigerians and international observers to conclude that those involved must have local but powerful collaborators. Indeed, a former United States’ ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, once said most poignantly: “I was surprised when I took a helicopter above Niger Delta; it revealed to me that oil bunkering is not hidden from the federal government, or anybody. My conclusion is very simple: some people must know what is going on.”
Last week, President Bola Tinubu sent an oil theft situation assessment delegation to the Niger Delta. Led by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, others in the team include the Minister of Defence, Muhammed Badaru, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, and the Service Chiefs. They discovered an illegal oil connection in Owaza, Abia State, which is causing the country an average of $7.2 million in monthly losses, among other findings. After the visit, the usual lamentations about the magnitude of the theft were made along with some feeble promises. Against the background that Nigeria has been on this road several times, there is no hope that anything will change.
Grossly lacking in infrastructure and industrial growth, Nigeria is in dire need of any fund it can muster to take care of its populace. Therefore, to imagine that the country suffers such enormous revenue depletion while begging for foreign loans to finance its projects is, to say the least, unfortunate. It is even more tragic that senior government officials have over the years been making complaints to the media, touting figures of the amount of oil theft without proffering any solution to the challenge. Yet, this massive crime is being committed right in the open. Considering that at the heart of all this is the issue of national security, how more exposed can a nation be if such a high percentage of its economic mainstay is in the hands of criminals?
For years, there have been reports of arrest of some ships on the high sea carrying Nigerian stolen crude with no one brought to justice. In conjunction with a private security outfit that is on contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd (NNPCL), the military recently intercepted MT TURA II, an 800,000-tonne vessel allegedly carrying 150,000 metric tonnes of stolen crude. But in a shocking development that raised questions about transparency and accountability, the vessel and its contents were set ablaze by the military. With the evidence destroyed, that means the perpetrators will never be identified or brought to book. Besides, the contracted security outfit and the Navy are now trading damaging allegations over a boat with stolen crude, suggesting that there is no unity of purpose.
As we have highlighted repeatedly on this page, the capacity to undertake oil theft to the magnitude being reported today is not one that is available on the streets. It is nothing but an organised crime that must necessarily involve big actors with collaborators in the oil and gas sector and within the security apparatus. That is why we do not want to buy all the lame excuses that are being put up by the authorities on the vexatious problem that has refused to go away. Yet, at a time Nigeria needs all the resources it could muster to tackle the challenge of infrastructure and unemployment, it is rather unacceptable that the government seems helpless on how to deal with what clearly threatens the economic well-being of the nation and our national security.
