The Chief Executive of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mele Kyari on Tuesday, 4th October, informed the joint Senate Committees on Petroleum (Upstream and Downstream) and Gas, of the discovery of a four kilometre oil theft pipeline that has been in operation for about nine years. A former leader of the defunct Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta, Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo, in a television interview, accused Nigerian security agencies of being complicit in shielding oil thieves. He also claimed to have the names of persons involved in crude oil theft, adding that 58 illegal oil points have been discovered so far in Delta and Bayelsa States in a six-week period. A company owned by the ex-militant is said to have been awarded a N48 billion contract by the Federal Government to carry out pipeline surveillance in the South South region, a development that was heavily criticised by Nigerians.
Nigeria’s oil sector has been experiencing a downturn in recent times evidenced by the country’s inability to meet its oil production quota, the scarcity and rising costs of petroleum products, coupled with increasing petrol subsidy amounts. These gave rise to reports of crude oil theft, which seems to have worsened over time. While government actors within the executive, legislature admitted this fact and even provided figures of the proportion of crude oil lost to theft , it appeared that no concrete effort was being made to identify and apprehend the perpetrators. However, Nigerians are now watching to see if and how recent developments with regard to oil theft will impact the country’s oil-related revenue and the supply of petroleum products to citizens moving forward.