President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to urgently unveil a policy
\ndirection and action his government will take to eradicate oil theft in
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
An anti oil theft initiative, Seal the Crude made the call in a statement
\nby its Programme Officer, Stephen Hemba and released to the media
\nrecently.<\/p>\n
Seal the Crude said the problem of oil theft is no longer \u200etolerable
\nand since it is a recurring issue passed on to the Buhari administration,
\nthe President must waste no time in outlining a policy thrust to address
\nit.<\/p>\n
The statement said such has become necessary due to the economic downturn
\nbedeviling the country with states not being able to pay workers’ wages
\ntalk less of providing social and development services to Nigerians.<\/p>\n
Seal the Crude said: “The President Muhammadu Buhari administration\u00a0 must
\napproach this menace with a policy direction and action to strategically
\naddress the local and international dimensions of this economic crime,”
\nadding that, “addressing this problem now puts more money on the table for
\nthe new government, increases its capacity to finance its programs and
\nimproves its image in driving a change and badly needed reforms in the oil
\nindustry. Seal the Crude therefore demands an urgent policy direction and
\naction from the Buhari administration to eradicate crude oil theft for a
\nprosperous, secured and healthy Nigeria.”
\n\u200e
\nThe statement reads in full:\u200e “It is no longer doubtful that crude
\noil theft gravely threatens the economic survival of Nigeria. Oil thieves
\ntap into crude oil pipelines and draw crude away. Sometimes crude oil is
\nstolen at the export terminals, allegedly facilitated by officials and
\nsecurity personnel responsible for protecting the exploration
\ninfrastructures. Some of this crude is refined illegally through local
\nprocesses across the Niger-Delta and the rest is sold illegally in the
\ninternational market. Through this process an estimated 400,000 barrels of
\ncrude oil is lost daily and this translates to Naira value in trillions
\nyearly.<\/p>\n
The theft, transportation, sale and handling of proceeds from this illegal
\nactivity through formal local and global financial institutions without
\nchallenge inspite of security apparati suggest it is a well-coordinated
\nsyndicate collaborated by state officials and international actors. This
\nunwholesome practice poses a great threat because Nigeria\u2019s economy
\nlargely depends on revenue from the sale of crude oil.<\/p>\n
The activities of crude oil thieves deprive the Nigerian people of revenue
\nto finance development. It is partly responsible for the reduction in the
\nrevenue available to the states according to official sources. Many states
\ncannot\u00a0 pay salaries of their workforce and obviously cannot provide basic
\nservices like, healthcare, education etc.<\/p>\n
Also, proceeds from the sale of stolen crude is used to sponsor criminal
\ngangs including militant groups, which increase insecurity, and threatens
\ninvestment opportunities. The activities of militants and other deviants
\nmay be diversionary and used as decoy to weaken government security
\napparatus set up to effectively tackle the crime. It also, creates an
\ninsecure environment within which oil theft thrives.<\/p>\n
The breaking of oil pipelines to steal crude spills the oil and further
\ndamages the already degraded environment of the Niger-Delta. This affects
\nthe health and the economic survival of the Niger-Delta communities and
\nsignificantly depreciates the nations biodiversity resources.<\/p>\n
Efforts by previous Nigerian governments to stop this assault on the
\neconomy and citizens apparently yielded no significant impact. Rather than
\nthe situation abating, it appears to have assumed very disturbing
\ndimension before the exit of the immediate past government. It has now
\nbeen passed on and stares this government in the face.<\/p>\n
Something must be done urgently and differently. The President Muhammadu
\nBuhari administration\u00a0 must approach this menace with a policy direction
\nand action to strategically address the local and international dimensions
\nof this economic crime.\u00a0 Addressing this problem now puts more money on
\nthe table for the new government, increases its capacity to finance its
\nprograms and improves its image in driving a change and badly needed
\nreforms in the oil industry.<\/p>\n
Seal the Crude therefore demands an urgent policy direction and action
\nfrom the Buhari administration to eradicate crude oil theft for a
\nprosperous, secured and healthy Nigeria.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to urgently unveil a policy direction and action his government will take to eradicate oil theft in the country. An anti oil theft initiative,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n