The recurring decimal of theft of Nigeria’s crude oil and the faulty policy of addressing it are certainly worrisome. First, oil successfully ferreted out of the country constitutes a permanent loss to the country; and when the theft attempt is thwarted by official security agencies, the vessel bearing the stolen crude is destroyed along with its content, thus presenting another loss to the country.
Curiously enough, the destruction of the vessel amounts to the destruction of evidence that can be used for prosecuting culprits, who consequently may be set free, perhaps to perfect their mode of stealing oil next time. All these issues need to be addressed at the highest level of President Tinubu’s government if it is really serious about stopping the theft of Nigeria’s natural resources and the deprivation of citizens.
Again, the Nigerian Navy set ablaze a confiscated Marine Vessel (MV) Cecelia Imo, said to illegally carry 350,000 litres of refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), also referred to as diesel, in Woji, Obio/Akpor Council Area of Rivers State. The Navy said the vessel, which was ordinarily a service boat had been converted to storage for illegally refined products, which it suspected at the time to be diesel.
Following the arrest recently, newsmen reported that personnel of the NNS Pathfinder acting ‘under extant regulations’ used a tug boat to push the vessel laden with the stolen content far into the deep waters for over two hours, to ‘a safe location’, where it rained more diesel and petrol on it before setting it on fire. The vessel was said to have gradually gone down amid thick, black smoke.
However, the owner of the destroyed vessel, Mr. Jasper Ako, has questioned the authority of the Navy, claiming it has no right to destroy the vessel. According to his legal counsel, Augustine Ojekudo, the owner was not involved in any criminality and should not have suffered such a colossal loss running into billions of naira. He demanded the court order that authorised the destruction of the vessel. He also queried how much investigation was carried out to arrive at the far-reaching decision to destroy the vessel
The Navy blamed the owner of the vessel for allegedly absconding while the vessel was impounded and investigations were on to unravel complicity, but the owner is insisting that the action of the Navy, which culminated in the destruction of the vessel does not qualify as due procedure. For this, the owner has gone to court to seek redress.
For advocates of environmental conservation, the concept of burning stolen crude and the vessels bearing such is unhealthy, besides the fact that it does not serve as an antidote to oil theft and has so far not addressed the root cause of the menace in the country. It is yet to serve as sufficient deterrence either. Stealing Nigeria’s oil is totally unacceptable, and those involved should be subjected to stiff sanctions in accordance with the law. Vessels used for criminal deeds ought to be confiscated and put to public use in a way to ensure that the original owner never gets it back. If need be, the relevant laws can be amended appropriately.
Equally, the method of burning down or otherwise destroying oil-laden vessels does not make provision for the consequential climate crisis arising from the application of such crude methods in crime and punishment. Rightly, concerned Nigerians and environmentalists have raised the question of the avoidable environmental impact the burning of crude constitutes on flora and fauna, to which the authorities have not provided a tenable response. At a time, when the whole world is in a race to reduce carbon emissions, the authorities here seem to repudiate genuine concerns by citizens and climate advocates.
More fundamentally, it does not make economic sense to destroy costly crude at a time when the country is borrowing money to survive. The National Security Adviser to President Bola Tinubu, Nuhu Ribadu, lamented the other day that the country was losing 400,000 barrels of crude oil every day to oil thieves and he put the value at $4 million each day.
For a country that is desperately in need of foreign exchange to import refined petroleum products and run the economy efficiently, it defies logic that the Navy and the Task Forces put in charge of securing oil and gas are so quick to set fire to stolen crude and so-called illegal refineries in the Niger Delta region. How about discharging the content, selling it, and putting the proceeds in the Federation Account? How about exploring the possibility of upgrading and licensing the illegal refineries and regulating their activities since they provide employment at a time when the country’s four refineries are not functional?
An oil-producing country like Nigeria has no excuse for being unable to monitor its oil and gas assets and production facilities. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has no excuse not to know which customer has been approved to load crude at which of its terminals, at what particular day and time, with adequate technology in place to monitor the processes.
According to recent data from the NNPC, between August 12 and 18, 45 illicit refineries engaged in unapproved operations in the Niger Delta were unveiled. Also exposed were 20 instances of unauthorised connections, eight breaches of vessels’ AIS regulations, and six cases of oil spills along with 20 wooden boats to aid in transporting stolen crude were detected and destroyed.
A recent action announced by the Nigerian Airforce reported how its air component of Operation Delta Safe (OPDS) carried out air interdiction missions on some illegal refining sites located at Cawthorne Channels, Billes and Gogokori in Degema Local Government of Rivers State, destroying two illegal refinery sites and one Cotonou boat loaded with illegal refined crude products.
The environmental impact of these breaches and the offensive to contain them are massive. The remediation agencies should swing into action to clean up the affected areas. The Federal Government should be decisive in apprehending oil theft before it takes place. The regulatory authorities should think of processes to assess what constitutes illegal refineries and the local content involved in it. The technology, no matter how base, might just be useful, minus the illegalities.
The Guardian
