At the peak of the syndicated crude oil thievery, which has become a deep, aching hemorrhage to the economy, the Presidency appears to be playing the Whistleblower by telling bewildered Nigerians that it would “soon” expose those behind the heinous crime that has been there for a long time.
Speaking on national television late last month, the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, disclosed that the Federal Government would soon reveal the identities of high-profile individuals behind crude oil theft in the country.
“I am hopeful that in the next few days, the office of the national security adviser will be presenting to the nation – the big men – who are promoters of this kind of business as they are being caught and illegal refineries are being bombed out”, Garba said.
Crude oil theft, which has been going on for many years, has assumed a worrisome dimension to the extent that Nigeria can no longer meet its OPEC quota. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, confirmed that the country loses 400,000 barrels of crude daily via oil theft.
At the 2023-2035 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper presentation recently, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, reported that Nigeria’s oil production slumped by 28 million barrels between January and July 2022, thereby threatening the Federal Government’s N9.37 trillion oil and gas revenue target by the end of the year. She blamed oil production shut-ins due to pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft and high petrol subsidy cost.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, said the country suffered a monthly loss of N1.9billion to crude oil theft.
Reacting to government workers’ request for a pay increase amid rising cost of living, President Muhammadu Buhari expressed concern that Nigeria is unable to meet some of its financial obligations to its citizens due to revenue shortage. He noted that Nigeria lost $1 billion in revenue during the first quarter of this year due to large-scale crude oil theft which has escalated its revenue shortage challenge.
With these revelations, the same government behaved as if it had attained its wits’ end, and is now discovering those behind the dastardly act.
It is a national embarrassment that a nation superintended by the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, who also doubles as the Minister of Petroleum, would sound so evasive. The statement smacks of failure of governance.
If the government knows the perpetrators of this massive economic sabotage, why wait for the ceremony of exposing them “soon”? What else are the responsibilities of the government if it cannot offer protection to lives and property and ensure that every threat to the nation’s economic mainstay is effectively dealt with? What is the purpose of this Whistleblower attitude and what will Nigerians do to those behind the oil theft when their identities are exposed?
There are reports of government officials, security agencies and powerful Nigerians colluding with communities to perpetrate the crime of oil theft. Such reported complicity is apparent in the failure of the Nigerian authorities to effectively intercept and arrest criminal tankers and their crew who successfully enter the Nigerian waters, load and depart with huge volumes of stolen crude.
Recently, 13 Nigerian Navy personnel were court-martialed in Lagos for allegedly conniving with crude oil thieves and pipeline vandals, among other maritime infractions. Those facing the Naval Court Martial include some officers who allegedly connived with people from some oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta, including traditional leaders, to engage in crude oil theft. This has led to the allegations that the federal government knows those behind the oil theft.
When President Muhammadu Buhari took over in 2015, he insisted that it was a shame that regional warlords were the ones protecting the assets when Nigeria has a capable military. He went after those handling a surveillance contract under Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and disbanded them. Ironically, the same regional warlords are being contracted to play the same role of protecting the nation’s pipelines from where the crude oil is siphoned.
This shocking development underscores the massive sleaze in our nation’s oil and gas sector under the APC-controlled government led by President Buhari who announced corruption fight as a major plank of its administration in 2015.
Nigeria depends on crude oil for most of its revenue. The country is currently in dire financial straits and suffering massive revenue shortfalls. It is also faced with mounting debts of over N40 trillion and spends almost all of its revenue on debt servicing and repayment.
The President must therefore wake up to this monstrous threat to the nation’s survival.
We agree with the view that the President needs to shake up the security forces, the state oil company, the NNPC Limited, the regulators, the statutory maritime agencies, and the intelligence services. Reports have for years confirmed this high level of treachery among these institutions and persons. Government should engage the services of the communities in a proper manner to secure the pipelines and other facilities.
To prevaricate over the challenge with a ceremonial declaration of intention to expose those behind the crime is, to us, an unnecessary stance of an official Whistleblower.
Expose the culprits and have them punished if they are found guilty.
