TACKLING OIL THEFT 

President Tinubu’s directive on oil theft is in order, argues Isuma Mark

President  BolaTinubu recently gave marching orders to security chiefs to end oil theft in the country. Just a few days after the order, the military has swung into action, eliciting hope that as the country pumps out more oil, more foreign exchange will be available to grow the economy and also strengthen the naira.

The administration has been smart about picking its fight. It’s been careful in the way it picks the challenges and confronts them. This is because the challenges it inherited are massive and required careful study, the government has been careful in the way it is tackling them. This is because those who want the status quo to remain would create impediments, especially when all the challenges are confronted at the same time.

That’s why a piecemeal approach has been very instructive and effective. Take for instance, the issue of oil subsidy. Once the government decided to ease off the drain pipe that it was, more money began to accrue to government coffers, the reason why the three tiers of government are now receiving more allocations from FAAC than before. This has brought relative stability to the system.

It was similar to the forex crisis. Though more complex and has some elements of external connection and variables, the government has continued to confront the issues to strengthen the naira and instil sanity with better monetary management.

However, of all the issues confronting the country, oil theft is one of the most atrocious. It is haemorrhaging the economy and depriving the country needed resources for infrastructure, not to mention health and education. It’s an organised crime being perpetuated by oil gangsters whose only creed is to tamper with our common patrimony and corner them. No country enjoys peace let alone grows when its premium commodity is cornered by a few gangs.They care not about the consequences.

Every successive government has made some commitment, promising to end the crude assault on the wealth of the nation but with very limited success.

Investigations have revealed that the country loses almost half a quantity of crude oil it exports. That’s startling. According to the National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria loses about 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily to local and international thieves.

At $85pb at the current price of oil at the international market, it means Nigeria is losing about $34,000,000 a day and one billion dollars a month. No country survives this kind of grand scale assault on its economy. 

It’s therefore gratifying that the Armed Forces have swung into action. Its Air Force component last Thursday destroyed six canoes loaded with stolen oil products.

The crew also destroyed overhead tanks and over 300 piled-up sacks containing stolen oil products in the creek of the Niger Delta. This was in addition to eight active illegal refining sites at Obenibokiri, a settlement 15km from Port Harcourt. Complementing the Air Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC) also destroyed an illegal oil bunkering operation in Abia State with about 50,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil ( AGO). The president has spoken and the orders must be obeyed.

The country that used to enjoy a 2.2 million barrels per day allocated to it by the Organisation of Oil Producing Countries (OPEC) could only produced 972,000 bpd in August 2022, and even less at some other times. We cannot continue to pretend all is well.

Tension is rising yet those opposing the government policy do not care how and why we got here. Since President Tinubu came to power oil production has oscillated between 1.2 and 1.5 million bpd. This is some improvement.

But with the challenges in the system, Nigeria needs to pump more oil for export. Unfortunately, oil theft has been a great impediment, hence the order by the president to security chiefs to tackle them forthwith.

Nigeria can barely survive on this massive shortfall. The president’s economic policies have largely targeted balancing social services and resolving the inherent rot in the system..

That was why a few words into his inauguration in May, 2023, he succinctly declared “subsidy is gone.” It had to because the subsidy regime and oil theft were two -pronged assault on the nation’s resources, which threatened our national security.

 The painstaking assessment of the challenges the president met is paving the way for the solutions as each requires. The rot was monumental. Only a president with a clean hand and resolve to turn a new chapter in the country’s history can tackle them.

· Mark writes from Abuja