Oil Theft In The Niger Delta Is Like An Elephant In The Middle Of A Football Field. Will You Not See It ?
The Oasis Reporters
August 31, 2022
The Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo’s interview on Channels TV was self revealing.
He came short of telling Nigerians that the oil theft people are being told is carried out in the Niger delta is actually carried out in the offices of NNPC and NLNG.
How can massive ships load crude at designated points without the requisite documentation?
When they are caught by the Navy, that is when their documentation is forwarded to the Navy for them to be released?
The question is,what would have happened if they weren’t caught?
He gave another example of a ship measuring 336m in length, 60metres in width which was also caught loading on official platforms without the requisite documentation.
This brazen theft is being carried out by civil servants.The unpatriotic nature of an average Nigerian is mind boggling and a research will need to be carried out on it.
He also said that there is no way oil theft from pipelines will be up to 20,000 barrels of crude oil., saying that 10,000 barrels of crude oil is around 15,800,000 litres of crude and that it will take a 5 ton barge to make 3160 trips per day to convey such to the high sea and this can never be done without being noticed.
In another development, GMD of The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Dr. Mele Kyari has accused government officials, religious leaders, security agencies and even some staff of the nation’s crude oil theft.
Speaking during the 49th session of the weekly ministerial briefly at the State House in Abuja, NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari maintained that the menace involves every member of the society.
He stated that wherever the stolen product is found mostly in churches and mosques, there has been a network of vandals working in collaboration.
“When a fire outbreak happened in one of our pipelines, we discovered that some of the pipelines were actually connected to individuals’ homes. And not only that, and with all sensitivity to our religious beliefs, you know, some of the pipelines and some of the products that we found, are actually in churches and in mosques,” Kyari said
Then what is the government of Muhammadu Buhari doing about it ?
This brings us to the question of why Tompolo was given such a massive pipeline security contract worth four billion naira monthly to secure the nation’s pipeline.
It is very clear from the interview granted by the Chief of Naval staff that the theft of crude oil is more of “insider” official theft than bunkering.
This is the first time we are hearing first hand the truth about oil theft.
This information is supposed to generate a massive uproar in every facet of the society but as usual,we are too concerned by ethno-religious bickerings and yet we want a better society.
To further address the menace, the NNPC Group CEO announced that a national reserve company will be established to manage the pipelines on a commercial basis to efficiently put them to use for the distribution of products across the country.
According to him, crude oil theft which has resulted in the discovery of 295 illegal connections making it difficult for oil companies to operate efficiently has been very difficult to manage but they are not helpless.
He guaranteed that fully embracing the gas infrastructure will resolve the nation’s energy poverty.
