Crude oil theft: Why FG is helpless – Expert

The executive producer of the acclaimed television and radio series, Inside The Niger Delta, Mamode Akugha says the Federal Government is helpless in the fight against oil thieves in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

According to Akugba, crude theft is the biggest single business in Nigeria today, with over $1bn worth of crude oil reportedly stolen from the country in the first quarter of 2022.

He lamented that for every 100 barrels of oil crude produced, Nigeria loses 91 to oil thieves, leaving the Federal Government of Nigeria with only 9 barrels, leading to huge losses in revenue and fueling the illegal refinement of some of the stolen crude oil in the Niger Delta region.

Akugha said top military officers and community members were involved in the illegal business and urged the government to restructure the security architecture in the Niger Delta region and organize and set up modular refineries to curb the widespread oil theft and illegal refining of petroleum products in the Niger Delta region.

He emphasized that the menace of oil theft continues to thrive due to corruption and complicity of military personnel and senior government officials, stressing that redeeming Nigeria from oil thieves can only be possible if the government rejigs the security architecture in the Niger Delta and stops military officials from getting involved.

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“The military is the ones who sell black (crude oil) to the boys, and the boys take it back to their camps and refine it. Some refine, some do bagging, some do the loading, and eventually, some coordinate the tankers that come in. This is happening in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Ondo, and Imo. It’s happening in every single place where you have oil production.”

Asked what the government must do to tackle oil theft, Akugha said: “The right thing is just ensuring that our entire security architecture is overhauled.

“These military guys have tasted this thing; it’s going to be so challenging to take it out of them. They are so corrupt now. In the Niger Delta, the military is a big problem.

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“It’s not that the FG does not know the involvement of their people. Governor Nyesom Wike has even pointed direct fingers at some people. He named a commander of an army formation in Port Harcourt directly responsible for oil bunkering, but what has the Federal Government done about that? So they need to overhaul their security strategy and remove the military from involvement in oil theft.

Akugha advised the Buhari administration to jettison importation of petroleum products by organizing individuals in the Niger Delta region to run illegal refineries and establishing modular refineries, which will, in turn, reduce the burden of subsidy payment and loss of foreign exchange by the nation.

Last week, President Buhari vowed to increase security across the country to try to stamp out widespread oil theft after the supertanker, MV Heroic Idun, with a capacity of three million barrels, was seized by the navy of Equatorial Guinea, days after fleeing Nigeria.