Over $1tn worth of crude stolen without conviction Of ‘Real’ oil thieves — Dakolo

Over $1 trillion worth of crude oil has been stolen from Nigeria without a single conviction of the “real” oil thieves, according to King Bubaraye Dakolo, Chairman of the Traditional Rulers Council of Bayelsa State.

Dakolo, who made the startling revelation during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, lamented that the government has failed to adequately define what constitutes an “oil thief,” despite decades of persistent crude oil theft.

“What I do know is that the Federal Government does not know who an oil thief is because it is surprising that for this long, not one oil thief has been arrested, prosecuted, and jailed. If you go to the Kirikiri correctional centre, there is not one oil thief on the list of persons ever jailed.”

Dakolo asserted that rather than identifying and prosecuting the true culprits, the government primarily targets impoverished residents in the oil-producing region.

He highlighted the scale of the theft: “And from the record we have today, there are about 200,000 barrels of crude oil stolen every day, and this amount of crude oil cannot be put in your mouth or pocket.

So, ocean-going vessels are used in stealing them, but the Nigerian state is chasing victims of oil thievery — those who are not able to go to school, those who are not able to buy trousers for themselves, those who cannot afford three-square meals.”

The monarch painted a vivid picture of the “real” oil thieves, contrasting them sharply with the youths often blamed for the crime in the Niger Delta.

He described them as individuals with “properties on Banana Island and in choice places in Abuja,” as well as “properties in London and other parts of Europe and America.”

 “The oil thief will have a yacht, the oil thief will have glossy skin. The oil thief wouldn’t want to come to the creeks of the Niger Delta even for a day. If he has to come, he will come with a military escort, police escort, doctors, nurses, and all. In case he is bitten by a mosquito, they would have to cure him because he loves his life dearly, he wouldn’t want to take the risk of coming to be in the swamps of the Niger Delta.”

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On the revenue lost to crude oil theft and the perceived lack of government accountability, King Dakolo stated, “The Federal Government not properly defining who an oil thief is has set us on this trajectory.

As we speak now, about $3 trillion worth of oil has been sold or has been extracted over the years, and then most of it outright stolen, never brought to Nigeria.” He drew a parallel to the “Abacha loot,” noting that funds continue to be recovered years after the dictator’s death, suggesting a similar pattern of hidden wealth from illicit oil activities.

“So, there is no proper accountability. The mismanagement of oil and gas resources is the story. Nobody wants to frontally say, ‘This is an oil thief or this is the definition of an oil thief.”

In February, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, had stated that security agencies and oil industry operators were working towards achieving Nigeria’s target of 2.5 million barrels of crude oil per day, as set by President Bola Tinubu.

The CDS had also issued a three-month ultimatum to curb oil theft in the Niger Delta and increase production.

However, despite these efforts, output has remained at 1.4 million barrels per day, falling significantly short of the target.