Reps move to unmask crude oil thieves

DISTURBED by seeming difficulty in stopping illegal oil bunkering in the country and the role of the country’s security agencies, the House of Representatives yesterday adopted a motion to mandate its committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) and Navy to conduct an investigative hearing to unmask the perpetrators of the crime.

The committee, which is expected to submit its recommendations to the House within eight weeks was also asked to uncover the owners of the illegal vessels in Nigerian waterways, what happens to all the impounded illegal bunkering vessels, confiscated barges and the crude, as well as disclose buyers of the illegal crude internationally.

Leading the debate on the motion titled “Unprecedented upsurge of illegal oil bunkering activities in the Nigerian coastal region,” Daniel Reyeneiju (Delta) drew the attention of the House to the menace of daily vandalism of oil pipelines and other facilities and general state of insecurity in the country.

Reyeneiju noted with dismay that these illegal oil bunkering activities had affected the country’s revenue drastically to the extent that at a point, about 150,000 to 200,000 barrels of crude oil, which runs into millions of dollars was being lost daily.

Expressing concern over the number of vessels currently sailing the Nigerian waterways to perpetrate illegal bunkering, the lawmaker lamented that the unpatriotic method adopted by the perpetrators usually not only leave oil facilities damaged and cause environmental degradation but affect the aquatic ecosystem of the areas.

However, Andrew Uchendu attributed the success of the illegal activities to the failure of the Nigerian Navy to effectively police the coastal region owing to logistics problems.

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By Terhemba Daka, Abuja

-The Guardian