The Federal Governments’ Special Investigative Panel on Oil theft/losses has called for deliberate conversations which will drive legal reforms to make provision for stiffer penalties to persons, organisation found guilty of oil theft.
The Chairman of the Panel and Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Major General Barry Ndiomu (retd), during a one-day Stakeholders Conference on Oil Theft/Losses, held on Tuesday in Abuja, said there should be honest to enable Nigeria “crack the code” and put an end to the “criminal enterprise” of oil theft.
General Ndiomu regretted that oil theft has had enormous negative impact on Nigeria’s crude oil production, reducing output to 800,000bpd.
The Chairman, while stating that strategic consultations have been held with state governments of the Niger Delta region, also noted that other critical stakeholders were not left out.
He, however, advocated the deployment of modern technologies to protect oil assets, and also a review of security architecture in the Niger Delta region with a target of stemming the “sophisticated network of complicity between elements from the host communities, security agencies and industry players”.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo while declaring the Conference open, lamented that the Oil and Gas industry is facing serious threat, as crude oil theft which happens on a large scale, is sabotaging Government efforts.
Osinbajo noted that organized oil theft does not happen without the conspiracy of critical state institutions.
He further stated that the Federal Government must now take up the task of frequent engagement with host communities to douse their grievances.
“It is important to sit down with these local communities to engage and talk to them. So that we are able to understand what is going on and proffer solutions”. We must hold people in authority to account on what is going on,” he said.
In his address, the National Security Adviser (NSA) Major General Babagana Monguno (retd) maintained that the problem of oil theft has developed to disturbing levels.
“This is because the criminals have now increased the level of sophistication, considering the various methods they employ to tap primary pipelines with illegal secondary pipes to load on barges and sell to international collaborators, or to process locally for illicit domestic sale,” he said.
He however, expressed the readiness of Government to address the scourge of oil theft with a comprehensive approach, adding that crude oil theft is arguably the biggest issue in Nigeria.
The NSA revealed that so far, 83 oil tankers involved in crude oil theft have been arrested, while over 3 million barrels theft of crude oil have been prevented, and 11 million litres of petrol and diesel recovered.
In the same vein, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Slyva blamed the drop in crude oil production and loss of revenue due to wide scale theft and vandalization of oil assets.
He noted that government is making significant progress in securing oil assets, and that the tempo will be sustained to achieve the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota.
Also present at the One-Day Conference, were all Security Service Chiefs, Traditional Rulers from the Niger Delta Region, representatives from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and other critical stakeholders of the oil and gas industry.
