By Christiana Ekpa
The House of Representatives Special Committee on Crude Oil Theft and Losses, has appealed to the Nigerian Navy to assist it with relevant information as it seeks to unravel those behind the perennial stealing of the country’s crude oil.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa made the appeal over the weekend, during a special engagement with the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogala, giving assurance that information obtained confidentially by the committee shall be handled with utmost care.
Explaining why the committee embarked on a visit the Naval Headquarters in Abuja, Doguwa said “crude oil theft is a major concern to the economy of our country, Nigeria, and on that note we feel we have to extend hands of fellowship to the relevant security stakeholders that have long been existing on the space to fight against these criminalities.
“You can all recall that the recent projection for the year 2024, the parliament budgeted about 28.77 trillion naira based on crude oil bench mark of $77.96 per barrel and the production of 1.78 million barrels per day. In January 2024, Nigeria oil production rose to about 1.42 million barrels per day, this represents an increase of about 6.85 percent compared to the the production figure of 1.39 million barrels per day in December 2023.
“Though there seemed to be a gradual improvement of oil production, but we are still bellow the OPEC quota of 1.58 million barrels per day in the 2024 budget benchmark. The major reason the country is not meeting her production targets is largely attributed to crude oil theft . This theft is being carried out in collusion, that not only threaten the economy of the country but have even precipitated crisis bothering on national security.
“You may recall that in 2022 NEITI report, which is the key parameter for our economic projections, the agency stated that about 619.7 million barrels of crude oil, valued at over $46.16 billion was stolen within the period of 12 years”, a situation he said have been reported variously in the media as the situation seemed not to be abetting
“In order to address these criminalities, the house instituted this special committee, and charged it with the responsibility of investigating all dimensions of oil theft and with a view to bringing all culprits to book ..
He said the committee has since commenced legislative work , engaging strategic stakeholders, and will soon begin public investigative hearings on “identified malpractices”,
He recalled that on Friday, February 9, 2024, the committee visited a site of arrested two vessels in Delta State, for involvement in crude oil theft saying “these occurrences calls for an overhaul of the security architecture around the oil and gas infrastructure and the nation’s marine environment. We need to strengthen collaboration among the security agencies and also the private security that we have on ground.
Responding, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogala agreed that oil theft is major challenge to the country’s economy, stressing the recent report by NNPC Limited of the rise of crude oil production to about 1.78 million bpd, which it said was the highest in last three years, as still being below Nigeria’s OPEC quota, giving assurance that the Navy will work in collaboration with others to ensure the quota is met.
He however lamented the shortage of personnel in the face of the vastness of the country’s waterways which he said was over 1/10th of Nigeria land space, saying the Navy has less than 30,000 personnel, to man the vast sea space with operational guideline of policing, enforcing and assisting in coordinating enforcement.
