Recently Nigerian-born economist and businessman, Tony Elumelu said the federal government and the agencies should be able to tell Nigerians who steal the country’s crude oil, especially using vessels that move through the territorial waters.
Elumelu who spoke in an interview published by the Financial Times last weekend, said oil theft has contributed to the divestment of international oil companies in Nigeria.
He revealed that he discovered first-hand why international oil companies were partly divesting from onshore assets after criminal gangs began stealing crude from his pipelines, pointing out that oil thieves still take away 18 percent of crude from his field.
“42,000 barrels of crude pumped out daily. Theft still takes away about 18 per cent of production,’ he stated.
Asked who is behind the theft, he said: “This is oil theft, we’re not talking about stealing a bottle of coke you can put in your pocket. The government should know, they should tell us. Look at America, Donald Trump was shot at and quickly they knew the background of who shot him. Our security agencies should tell us who is stealing our oil. You bring vessels to our territorial waters and we don’t know?”
This is not the first time someone will be questioning as to how barges get into Nigerian territorial waters to steal her prized resources.
On several occasions too, the Nigerian Navy in synergy with neighboring countries within the gulf of Guinea have intercepted and arrested such thieving vessels.
Early this month the Nigerian Navy said its teams operating under Operation Delta Sanity, nabbed a Ghanaian vessel with 13 crew members for alleged crude oil theft. It said the crew comprised one Ghanaian and 12 Nigerians on board the Ghanaian flagged and registered vessel known as Motor Tanker SWEET MIRI.
The Director of Information, Navy, Rear Adm. Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan, in a statement on Monday August 10, in Abuja said the operation was conducted on February 25 at about 174 nm (approximately 320km) off Nigeria’s coast.
“It was discovered that MT SWEET MIRI was involved in illegalities and the vessel was subsequently arrested. Curiously, the suspicious disposition of the vessel necessitated the swift deployment of Nigerian navy Ship ABA and Nigerian navy ship SOKOTO to intercept the vessel. Notably, upon arrest, MT SWEET MIRI was found carrying about two million litres of product suspected to be crude oil without any form of approval from relevant authorities,” he said.
In August, 2022, the Nigerian Navy also arrested a super tanker near Akpo oilfield that entered the Bonny axis of the Nigerian territorial waters to steal crude.
During the prosecution, which was carried out under the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act, 2019, it was found that the ship was owned by a foreigner and all 26 crew members were also nationals of different countries. The suspects and the vessels were later released under suspicious circumstances after entering a N3million plea bargain.
MT Heroic Idun and its owners were to pay conviction fine of N5million as penalty for the charge and $15 million as restitution to Nigeria, and also make an apology to the Federal Republic of Nigeria in print and electronic media as well as Llyod’s List, while the Federal Government agreed not to further criminally prosecute the vessel, her owners, charterers or her crew in the matter of her crime against the State, as the conditions of the plea bargain without which the vessel and its crew would not be released.
On the flip side, some analysts have maintained that oil theft in the Niger Delta region is a collaboration between a chain of big sponsors and the boys who actually carry out the act.
To our mind, such statement coming from a businessmen of international repute calls for concern. It will be more worrisome if indeed the federal government and security agencies or insiders in the oil production sector are actually innocent of this illicit act and no conscious effort have been put in place to end the trend.
It is therefore our thinking that a high-powered investigation be launched by the relevant agencies (EFCC, ICPC, DSS), to ascertain those behind the high sea illegal bunkering of Nigeria’s crude.