When President Goodluck Jonathan said recently in Netherlands that one $1 billion is required to fight oil thieves in Nigeria, many must have been taken aback on the genuineness of such estimation. The president also indicated that the federal government has earmarked such amount to check crude oil theft, vandalism of oil and gas infrastructure and prosecution of oil thieves. These are serious issues deserving a firm attention. What should rankle many, however, is that despite the president’s antidote to this festering cankerworm, huge revenue accruable to government is still lost to vandals, thieves, and their godfathers.
In 2012, President Jonathan awarded a yearly contract worth N5.6 billion to former Niger Delta militants to guard oil pipelines. But that huge commitment has failed to achieve its purpose. Rather than abate, the theft of crude oil has increased in magnitude and frequency. Recent accounts said $75 billion is lost annually to the intricate web of national pilfering or outright theft, diversion andmanipulation of record.
While government is searching for formula to deal with this monster,recent media reports quoted two prominent leaders of Niger Delta to haveidentified those behind the malfeasance in the Niger Delta. While ChiefEdwin Clark fingered the military, Dr. Edmund Daukuro, King of Nembe, said his boys are the operators of illegal refineries in the creeks.
Indeed, reports from NEITI indicate that 60,000 barrels of crude oilis stolen daily at Nembe Creek. The pronouncements by these two eminentpeople are pregnant. They should be an eye opener for government. Unlike Boko Haram insurgents, oil thieves are known to government; they arenot ghosts. The nation’s oil manager, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),reported an average daily loss of 300,000 barrels of oil (about N1.8 trillion) in oil revenue for last year alone. Three major oil companies – Shell, Agip and Chevron- reported the loss of 137billion barrels ($11 billion)between 2009 and 2011.
Key government officials are wont to blame crude oil thefts on ‘criminalgangs’ operating in the Niger Delta. But the magnitude of the crimerequires more than mere kid gloves. A recent report on crude oil theft inNigeria prepared by Chatham House, the London-based global financial firm,fingered a “complex criminal web that includes foreign oil traders,shippers, bankers, refiners, high-level politicians and militaryofficials.”
A few years ago, the Joint Task Force assembled to ensure peace in theNiger Delta was also saddled with the responsibility of keeping thewaterways safe and protecting oil pipelines from vandals. The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps also complimented the armed forces. Andthe Task Force recorded some remarkable success. It seems that with time,the rank and file of the surveillance team became compromised, and gotsucked in the mess. Indeed, a few bad eggs among the security forces havecompromised the trust reposed in them by conniving with oil thieves.
It is surprising that the Jonathan administration has failed to rein inthe few criminal elements bleeding the nation dry. It has demonstrated areluctance to pursue diligently the carrot-with- stick amnesty regimedevised by his predecessor, late President Umar Yar’Adua. This governmentis throwing huge funds to train and rehabilitate the ex-militants in theNiger Delta. That is commendable. But it must also be firm and decisive instamping out the cankerworm of oil theft.
The President, his advisers and assistants in the oil industry must musterthe political will to act and the dexterity to outwit the rouges engaged inthis illicit business no matter how big and influential they may be.