BY JIDE AYOBOLU
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) recently said the
nation lost about $750 million to oil theft in 2019. The amount is about
N230 billion at the official CBN exchange rate of N306 to $1. NNPC’s
Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, gave the figure in a
presentation to members of the Executive Intelligence Management Course
13 of the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) who visited the
NNPC Towers, Abuja, on a study tour. A statement by Samson Makoji,
acting spokesman of the NNPC, said the GMD decried the growing
activities of oil thieves and pirates which he described as a threat to
the operations of the corporation. Kyari stated that any threat to the
corporation’s operations was a direct threat to the very survival of
Nigeria as a nation because of the strategic role of the corporation as
an enabler of the economy.
He listed other security challenges facing the corporation to include
vandalism of oil and gas infrastructure and kidnapping of personnel,
adding that there was a deep connection between the various shades of
insecurity challenges as they are all linked to what was happening in
the Gulf of Guinea and the entire maritime environment. He called for a
concerted effort and synergy to secure oil and gas operations for the
economic survival of the country. In his presentation, NNPC Chief
Operating Officer, Downstream, Engr. Yemi Adetunji, said in 2016, the
Gulf of Guinea accounted for more than half of the global kidnappings
for ransom, with 34 seafarers kidnapped out of 62 cases worldwide. He
said the corporation was working closely with security agencies to
tackle the security challenges, and cited the “Operation Kurombe”
that was recently conducted by the Nigerian Navy at the Atlas Cove as an
example of such collaborative efforts.
It would be recalled that Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki has said
that in the first six months of 2019, the nation lost about 22 million
barrels of its crude oil production to oil theft. He said if nothing was
done to curtail the ugly trend, the figure could double by the end of
the year. Obaseki, who is the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee of the
National Economic Council on Crude Oil Theft, Prevention and Control,
made the call at a meeting of stakeholders which held at the NNPC
Towers. He said the twin menace of oil theft and pipeline vandalism were
beginning to pose a threat to the national economy. The governor called
on stakeholders to join forces and work towards eradicating the menace
of crude oil theft that is currently on the upward swing in the country.
The corporation was excited that the menace of oil theft and its
twin-evil of pipeline vandalism are receiving attention at the highest
level of governance in the country. The meeting had in attendance the
Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, and representatives
of the governors of Delta, Bayelsa, Ondo, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and the
Rivers States. Also in attendance were representatives of the Police,
Navy, Army, Civil Defense and the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and
some indigenous operators. It would be recalled that in its June 2019
NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR) released recently,
the corporation announced a staggering 77 per cent rise in the cases of
oil pipeline vandalism across its network of pipeline infrastructure.
According to the report, 106 pipeline points were breached, representing
an alarming increase from the 60 points vandalized in May 2019.
Furthermore, The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said it had
suffered severe attacks on its facilities and assets, noting that
between 2001 to half-year 2019, it had recorded a total of 45,347 breaks
on its downstream pipeline networks across the country. Speaking in
Abuja at the inaugural Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative Policy Dialogue, NNPC Group Managing Director Mele Kyari said
oil theft had remained a challenge in the industry despite some strong
interventions in the past. NNPC, he said, had laid out steps to mitigate
the ragging twin menace of pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft in the
nation’s Oil and Gas Industry. A statement by NNPC spokesman Samson
Makoji said the GMD, who was represented at the event by the NNPC Chief
Operating Officer, Upstream, Roland Ewubare, listed other measures to
curb the menace to include a security architecture with single
accountability for national critical infrastructure; industry and
regulatory commitment to transparent crude oil and products accounting;
realistic expectation by host communities; and emplacement of
sustainable social investment mechanism.
Oil bunkering or theft is a very serious act of economic sabotage and
crime, which has very deep roots and long history in Nigeria. Bunkering
has gradually but steadily undermined various efforts to reorganize the
national economy and put Nigeria’s political economy on a sound
footing. The truth about this unfortunate sorry pass is that local
economic criminals have teamed up international collaborators to
constantly steal Nigeria’s oil, thereby making ungodly gains. Hence,
what should have otherwise been used to develop the commonwealth of the
Nigerian state, has been cornered and diverted into private pockets of
greedy, highly connected; very influential, extremely dangerous and
wealthy individuals.
Nigeria and Nigerians have suffered immeasurably in the hands of these
crooked economic saboteurs and they not see anything wrong with their
endeavour, for them, it is just a means of livelihood, regardless of the
fact that it is illegitimate; it is immoral, it is scandalous but in
their thinking, it is a survivalist strategy, in which only the fittest
of the fittest survives, and all is fair in their business practices, as
they continue to exploit the loopholes in the country’s security
architecture as well as leakages in the oil and gas industry. The
conspirators have devised several unorthodox means of getting cheap and
unearned monies at an immense loss to the country. All efforts to put
these devious practices in check over the years have proved abortive;
the cartels involved are very sophisticated and ruthless; they spare no
efforts to achieve their dastardly and sinister objectives. It is
imperative to underscore the fact that, hot-tapping and cold-tapping are
extremely sophisticated methods of oil theft and are primarily used in
large-scale operations during the crude oil stage. Terminal and vehicle
transportation theft involve the re-appropriation of both crude and
refined oil products from storage facilities during the process of
export transportation.
The Niger Delta is one of the world’s most important wetland and coastal
marine ecosystems and is home to some 30 million people. Due to its rich
natural resource base, environmental exploitation is rife and pollution
affects the people in unprecedented ways. Oil has been extracted in the
Niger Delta by the national and multinational oil companies since 1958.
Oil pollution caused by oil spills and gas flaring by the oil industry
devastates farmland, rivers, villages and the air. Oil pollution kills
fish and their food sources; it damages agricultural land causing soil
infertility and negatively impacts agricultural productivity. The
government fails to formulate and effectuate proper environmental and
compensation regulations. The failure of the oil companies, including
Shell, Eni, Chevron, Total and ExxonMobil, to swiftly deal with oil
spills exacerbates these problems as do spills resulting from oil
bunkering.
As a direct consequence of the pollution, the people of the Niger Delta
are facing impoverishment, loss of livelihoods through poisoned land and
fishing waters, high rates of respiratory disease and illness,
disenfranchisement and despair. Proper governmental policies to reinvest
state income from oil in the Niger Delta for social and economic
development are desultory. The disastrous situation in many parts of the
Niger Delta violates people’s rights to health and a healthy
environment, the right to an adequate standard of living and the right
to earn a living through work. After many years of oil and gas
operations in the delta, most of the 30 million people living there
remain poor. The rapidly growing population is putting pressure on
traditional livelihoods like fishing and agriculture. Only a very few
have access to basic services and infrastructures like schools, health
clinics, electricity and running water. And, nothing has changed.
Oil bunkering is very big business for local cabals and their
international conspirators. It has been alleged that those involved are
very highly placed and strategically located in high places in and out
of government, and they fund politics and elections in the country.
Hence, they belong to the exclusive class of the untouchables, because
if the government brings them to book it would amount to class suicide.
The government needs to deal decisively with culprits no matter how
highly placed or connected. There cannot be two sets of laws in the
country, one for the rich and the other for the poor, because equality
before the law is a cardinal principle of the rule of law and democratic
ethos. This government has said it has zero-tolerance for corruption;
this is one area that it should really show a zeal for fighting
corruption. The President who is also the Commander- in – Chief of the
armed forces should read out the riot act to the security agencies and
give them a free hand to operate. It is however, gratifying to note
that, President Buhari has vowed to fight graft head-on and that; there
will be no sacred cows.
Nigeria that used to be the 6th largest oil-producing country in the
world and a key member of OPEC is now placed around 12th with most of
the oil used locally in the country externally sourced. It would be
recalled that only recently the Federal Government said, it would fight
oil theft with $1 billion by putting in place a comprehensive programme
to check crude oil and gas infrastructure, including the arrest and
prosecution of crude oil thieves. According to the Federal Government,
“oil theft is an aspect of global terrorism, which has become a big
industry on its own. It has become a major threat to the Nigerian
economy and we need to work with all stakeholders to curb. The thieves
must be traced, apprehended and prosecuted”.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s attempt to reduce
corruption within the government through the targeting of suspected
facilitators of oil theft led to an increase in violence within the
country. For example, the creation of the Niger Delta Avengers militant
organization occurred after President Buhari prosecuted the leader of a
local militia group, Government Ekpemupolo, for his role in the practice
of oil theft in the Niger Delta region. Consequently, Ekpemupolo and the
Niger Delta Avengers have proceeded to sabotage multinational oil
corporation pipelines. In addition to the violence associated with the
Niger Delta Avengers, oil spilt from these sabotage operations and the
illegal refinery practices committed by the local population have led to
the severe pollution of the environment. Given that almost 83 per cent
of total exports revenue comes from the petroleum products revenue in
Nigeria, the political and military elite have sought ways to
consolidate their control of the oil trade. This monopoly over the oil
trade has prompted many local villagers to commit small-scale oil theft
and to pursue the illegal refinery of stolen crude oil as a means of
entering into this unofficial economy.
However, President Buhari is fully aware of the nefarious activities of
oil thefts as well as its deleterious multiplier effects on the national
economy, to this end, several palliatives were put in place, not only to
put paid to oil bunkering but also develop the whole of the Niger Delta
region.