CLEMENT IDOKO writes on the impact of oil theft and illegal oil bunkering on the Nigeria’s economy and the renewed efforts of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to stop the heinous activities of saboteurs in line with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari.
THE Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, MeleKyari, recently stunned the nation when he said that stolen crude oil products are now stored in places of worship such as churches and mosques.
Kyari also disclosed that at least 295 illegal connections were spotted on a 200km stretch of pipeline in one instance. He made the disclosures when he appeared at the 49th Session of the State House Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Equally disturbing is a Dataphyte review of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, (NEITI) Oil and Gas industry report which revealed that over 270 million of Nigeria’s commercial crude oil production was lost to theft and sabotage between 2016 and 2020. According to the report, a total of 39.162 million barrels of crude oil was lost in the year 2020. This is an average of 107, 293 barrels per day loss.
The high level of oil theft and illegal oil bunkering causing heavy revenue losses is happening amid controversy surrounding the N48 billion pipeline surveillance contract awarded to a former Niger Delta militant leader, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo, by the Federal Government
The ex-commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta has consolidated his hold on the multi-billion naira Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s oil pipeline surveillance contract awarded to him by the Federal Government. The N4bn per month contract, which covers the Ijaw-speaking part of Bayelsa State (Southern Ijaw and Ekeremor local government areas), Delta, Ondo, Imo and Rivers states, has attracted a groundswell of opposition from some stakeholders in Bayelsa, Ondo, Imo and Rivers states.
Others, including the Amalgamated Arewa Youth Groups, have been questioning the Federal Government’s patronage of Tompolo. Stakeholders are also disturbed that despite the billions being spent monthly on protection of pipelines and oil installations in the Niger Delta, the ‘business’ of oil theft and activities of those involved in illegal bunkering have not abated.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), according to a report, estimated that the country lost 2.3 million barrels in July alone and 28 million barrels in total from January to July of this year (2022).
OPEC also lamented that theft and vandalism have made it impossible for Nigeria to meet the assigned production quota of 1.8mbpd. The international organisation particularly said Nigeria lost $1 billion to crude theft in the first quarter of 2022.
The ugly development which is already taking heavy toll on the nation’s economy as a result of revenue losses, prompted President Muhammadu Buhari to recently order the Commandant-General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), DrAbubakar Audi, to bring the menace to a halt.
In compliance with the Presidential directive, the Commandant-General of NSCDC, Audi, summoned the Heads of all the Anti-Vandal Units in the State Commands to Abuja for strategic meeting where he read a riot act to them, expressing that so much needed to be done to actualise the core mandate of the Corps, especially in the area of protection national critical assets and infrastructure.
Suffice to mention that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) was established via the Act No. 2 of 2003 as amended by Act No. 6 of 2007, and assented to by the then President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. The Corps was created as a lead agency saddled with several responsibilities as her mandate, amongst which are the protection of critical infrastructure and national assets, ranging from oil pipelines, telecommunication masts, electrical installations among others.
NSCDC is also in charge of regulating, training, monitoring, supervising, licensing of the private security companies. It is also to effectively and efficiently carry out disaster management through search, rescue, rehabilitation and mitigation and to give early warning alert signal to residence of areas discovered to be prone to disaster and report to the government and appropriate authority for relocation of the settlers.
How well the Corps has fared in achieving her mandate in over 15 years of operation as a paramilitary agency charged with the critical responsibility of not only securing lives but the fabric of the nation’s economic remains a public debate.
One thing that is however clear, is that the current man at the helm of affairs of the Corps, the Commandant-General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, DrAbubakar Audi, appears to have direction on how to salvage the nation’s economy from the huge revenue losses to the heinous activities of the oil thieves and criminals sabotaging the nation’s development efforts through vandalism.
Stakeholders have also commented the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for the approval of funds for the purchase of eight armoured gunboats as well as 93 operational vehicles to boost the Corps’ combat operations.
The E-27 special edition gunboats, built by an indigenous company, Epenal Group of Companies Nigeria Limited, are expected to aid operatives of the Corps to arrest crude oil theft and oil pipeline vandalism. The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, commissioned the eight gunboats in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while the 93 operational vehicles were inaugurated in Abuja.
The high speed boats would enable NSCDC operatives to wage a full scale war against oil theft in the Niger Delta region. While commissioning the gunboats, Aregbesola said the move became necessary to strengthen the combative capacity of NSCDC Anti-Vandalism Squad in stemming the tide of huge revenue loss to the federal government in the oil sector. He said the country in recent past had recorded various occurrences of crude oil theft and reports have shown that the country loses million of dollars daily.
“Of the 141 million barrels of oil produced in the first quarter of year 2022, only 132 million barrels of oil were received at export terminals. Further results reveal that over nine million barrels of oil was lost to crude oil theft,” he said.
The minister decried the negative impacts of crude oil theft and oil pipeline vandalism in the nation and charged all security agencies to join forces in the fight against oil theft in order to salvage the nation’s economy of saboteurs. He further maintained that NSCDC, as the lead agency in safeguarding Critical National Assets and Infrastructure, is mandated to use the available logistics provided by the government to reduce crime rate and by extension take the war against crude oil theft to the camp of the enemies.
The Commandant-General of NSCDC, Abubakar Audi, in his remark at the occasion, said the eight newly acquired gunboats and other strategies put in place would boost the morale of the corps in combating the menace of crude oil theft along the waterways.
The CG, however, disclosed that the Corps had recorded some successes, saying in 2021 alone, it arrested a total of 503 suspected vandals, prosecuted 481, secured 122 convictions as well as destroyed 79 illegal refineries.
“The NSCDC is generally expected to effectively safeguard critical infrastructure and oil installations which are very central and vital to the socio-economic development of the nation.
“The corps is saddled with the mandate to guard against oil theft, illegal oil bunkering through the provision of physical security to oil pipelines against vandalism. Therefore, any threat to the oil and gas sector is automatically considered as a high security concern owing to the debilitating effects it has on national development.
“It also constitutes environmental degradation, pollution, destruction of land and aquatic life, loss of means of livelihood and drastic reduction in the inflow of foreign exchange needed to bolster the economy of the nation,” the CG said.
He reiterated the corps’ determination and unwavering commitment to the war against illegal oil bunkering and assured the government and entire nation that the gunboats would be distributed to states in the coastal region as the corps continues to collaborate with the military and other security agencies.
The NSCDC boss had two weeks to the commissioning of both the gun boats and operational vehicles, summoned the Heads of all the Anti-Vandal Units in the State Commands to Abuja for strategic meeting where he read riot act to them. He told the senior officers that President Muhammadu Buhari was extremely worried about the ugly development and ordered NSCDC to put an to the menace of oil theft and illegal bunkering, causing the nation huge economic loss.
To effectively wage a successful war against the oil thieves who have grown in sophistication, the NSCDC boss said there was the need to restrategise, saying one of the ways was also to clean the Augean stable and purge the system of possible link with the criminals.
The CG urged the officers to step up action on protection of assets and critical infrastructure in the country. He lamented that power and telecommunication installations have also been under constant threat and attacks, saying the activities of vandals and illegal bunkers have wreaked havoc on power and telecommunication installations/facilities, oil pipelines, railway tracks, bridge railings, critical aviation infrastructure, gas installations, schools, hospitals, industries, roads among others.
He noted that the Federal Government is worried about the alarming oil theft and illegal bunkering, disclosing that President Buhari has directed that the menace must be stopped. He also said that the Corps had also set up a panel to investigate some members of anti-vandalism squad alleged to have compromised in the illegal bunkering, threatening that any officer found culpable would be severely sanctioned.
The CG said: “I invited you here to register my displeasure and disappointment at the attitude to work by some Heads of Anti-Vandal Units and members of their Squad. You are all aware that one of the core mandate of the Corps is the protection of Critical National Assets and Infrastructure (CNAI) for which the Corps remains the Lead Agency.
“To this extent, the Corps is generally expected to effectively safeguard these infrastructure which are very critical to the socioeconomic development of the nation by guarding against oil theft/illegal oil bunkering while providing adequate security to oil pipelines, power and telecommunication facilities among other Critical National Assets,” he said.
Just as the Group Chief Executive Officer of Oando Plc, Wale Tinubu, noted recently at the 2022 Nigerian Oil and Gas (NOG) conference, that Nigeria is struggling to produce 1.21 million barrels per day in contrast to the 1.4 million barrels handed to it by OPEC, other stakeholders have called on the NSCDC and other security agencies to further synergise in the efforts to efforts to bring the nation’s economy back on its feet.
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