Authorities of Nigerian Navy on Friday unveiled plans to acquire two multi-million dollar aircraft as part of ongoing efforts to end the menace of crude oil theft in the country.
Representative of the Chief of Air Staff and Director Operations, AVM Abdul Ganiyu, stated this during the resumed investigative hearing held at the instance of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on oil theft and its resultant revenue loss to the Federal Government.
In his presentation, AVM Ganiyj added that training of pilots to operate the available aircraft and others being expected shortly was in top gear and would be ready for deployment as from the third week of this month.
AVM Abdul Ganiyu asked relevant Agencies with the required technology to locate illegal bunkering sites not to waste time in getting such locations across to NAF, with an assurance that precision actions will be taken from NAF bases to wipe out such sites and their illegal activities.
To this end, he warned all the perpetrators of the illicit trade, including civilians, to desist henceforth so as not to fall victim of NAF attacks.
While reiterating Nigerian Navy’s resolve to tackle the menace, he vowed that the Service will not hesitate to “take them out.”
Meanwhile, one of the ICT experts who spoke during investigative hearing at the National Assembly complex, Abuja, disclosed that veritable ICT platform that could provide real-time information on all the well-heads operating across the country has been developed.
According to him, the ICT platform has the capacity to monitor over a million well-heads, which will enable various actors to know the actual production and enhance security within the operational areas within the country.
In its presentation, Nigeria Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) assured the NAF of timely information on identified illegal bunkering sites through its highly sensitive monitoring gadgets.
Nigeria Middle and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA) on its part, attributed bulk of oil and revenue loss to measurement inadequacies, either overtly or covertly, at the production line as well as fuel dispensing stage for end users.
“Bulk of the discrepancies are due to measurement inaccuracies, it is when oil is stolen from the production line before it gets to the terminals due to faulty metering or deliberate manipulation.
“Many Oil Companies operating in the country and their Regulators often collude not to use the internationally best-certified instruments and equipment in perpetrating this economic sabotage,” a member of the Pricing Regulatory Department of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources noted.
“Even when the pump price of petrol was upwardly adjusted, we at the Department in trying to enforce standard measurement and metering met with resistance from most marketers, that we have to employ the services of security agencies to compel compliance,” he added.
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