Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture has revealed that a total of 700, 000 barrels of crude oil is lost daily to oil thieve across the country.
A large chunk of this is stolen from Nigeria’s oil-producing region in the Niger Delta, security experts say, adding that the value of what is stolen at the current $100 per barrel is approximately $7 million.
The federal government recently awarded an N40 billion security contract to the company owned by repentant militant, Government Ekpumopolo aka Tompolo to prevent oil theft in the oil-bearing communities.
Recall that Mele Kyari, the chief executive of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company, NNPC had also accused churches and mosques of being part of oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
Speaking, Mohammed said the federal government is poised to end the theft through the deployment of modern technology.
The minister disclosed this in a statement on Friday by the Special Assistant to the President on Media, Segun Adeyemi, at a press briefing in Abuja after the aerial surveillance of the Trans-Forcados oil pipeline, Rivers State.
Mohammed said, “The investment in technology has become critical because the nefarious activities of vandals are causing Nigeria to lose approximately 700,000 barrels of oil daily. “
He said steps taken by the government have led to the arrest of “210 suspects and confiscation of 20.2 million litres of AGO, 461.8 thousand litres of PMS, 843.6 thousand litres of DPK, and 383.5 thousand barrels of crude oil.
“An additional 365 illegal refining sites were destroyed, with about 1,054 refining ovens, 1,210 metal storage tanks, 838 dugout pits, and 346 reservoirs destroyed by the GSAs.
“We witnessed first-hand a number of illegal refineries destroyed by our military in the course of our aerial surveillance.
“The new security architecture leverages collaboration between the upstream operators, industry regulators, government security agencies, and private security contractors,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, security experts who spoke with the magazine said some personnel of security agencies working in the Niger Delta are part of the oil theft in the region, adding that the government will solve the problem halfway if top military officers in the Navy, and Army found culpable in the act are severely punished.
