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Key unions in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry are putting together a major nationwide action to protest exponential oil theft in the country.
Reports indicate that major mobilisation towards this action is at an advanced stage following their resolve to expose those behind the crime.
Escalating oil theft by criminals has been described as a bleeding wound that is eating up resources of the country, with industry operators calling for declaration of emergency in the oil and gas sector to halt the menace.
Several figures are in the public space showing the level of theft that had occurred at different periods.
Recently, security agents operating across the country reported the recovery of stolen crude oil valued N86.2 billion in August alone.
Also, a total of 16, 000 litres of diesel valued at N800/litre (N12.8m) were reported to have been recovered by members of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Cross River.
Confirming the situation, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Timipre Sylva, said that the country loses 400,000 barrels of crude daily via oil theft.
He described the development as a “national emergency” and lamented that the nation had fallen short of OPEC daily quota, from 1.8 million barrels to 1.4 million barrels, due to crude theft.
He warned that such huge economic loss was capable of crippling the nation’s economy if not accorded the seriousness it deserved.
He expressed concern that the menace had persisted, in spite of the efforts by the federal and state governments to arrest it.
Sylva said the problem of crude theft could not be handled by the federal government alone as it is a national emergency because the theft had reached a very bad crescendo.
“This is because the thefts are taking place in the communities that host the oil pipelines. As a result, it has become necessary to involve the stakeholders, especially the host communities,” he said.
A top industry operator said some soldiers posted to a key export line in Port Harcourt openly threatened to kill their new commander who made an attempt to carry out changes of those assigned to guard the asset.
National president of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Festus Osifo, while responding to our correspondent’s enquiry into the plan, said time had come for the government to declare emergency in the sector.
On the planned action, Osifo said PENGASSAN was planning to engage other stakeholders, and that the media would be informed if any mass action would be carried out.
” Well, I don’t want to speak on any plan because we will soon address a press conference on this issue, but I don’t want to preempt anything. All I can say is that there is an organised cartel involved in this theft and there is need for an industry-wide engagement,” he said.