- NNPC needs a blueprint to curb oil theft
There is no doubt that both the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) need to restrategise to check the activities of oil thieves. Stealing of Nigeria’s oil – both crude and refined – has reached a level that the authorities must begin to consider something close to an emergency declaration.
Two occurrences recently will buttress this point. Penultimate Monday, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director, NNPC was led to what is probably the biggest petrol theft ever found in Lagos. At a community offshore Lagos called Robert-Victor Village where Atlas Cove (major oil jetty) pipelines run through were found thousands of jerry cans filled with petrol.
A much bedazzled Kachikwu noted at the site: “This is a massive operation as you can see. This is like moving 200 to 300 trucks through jerry cans back into the water to different countries like Ghana and Togo.
“This is a good discovery. But how many more of this do we have? We don’t know. It is an eye-opener for us but it is very frustrating”.
According to Kachikwu, the discovery was made by NNPC contractors and security personnel. He expressed the frustration of the NNPC at combating the oil thieves, noting that the more one spot is secured, many more are opened.
The day after the Robert-Victor Village find, another discovery, perhaps even more damaging was made inside a building at Kilometre 1, LASU Road, at Isheri, Iyana-Odo Bus Stop, in Alimoso Local Government Area of Lagos. Acting on a tip-off, the Inspector-General of Police Special Task force on Pipeline Vandalism had stormed the house at about 2.00 am and made an even more shocking find.
There was a professionally constructed fuel well with an underground pipe leading to the NNPC pipeline outside the building. There were also hoses from the well to loading bays by the fence of the house. From this point, tankers were reportedly filled and driven off mainly at night without attracting much suspicion. Numerous 50-litre jerry cans were also found on the premises.
It was alleged that the building was purpose-built near the major pipeline for the stealing of petrol. However, the alleged owner of the property, Mrs Florence Olayinka Ayinde, told the police that she had reported the nefarious activities of vandals to the NNPC when it started three years ago but nothing was done.
She said: “NNPC is aware of what is happening here. I reported three years ago when I first noticed the activities of vandals in this premises. I told most of their bosses like Alhaji Abubakar, Jacob and my brother Oyinlola but they told me to leave it.
“I used to cook food here but because of the fuel, which affected my water, I stopped. When I told the NNPC people, they came to check it and they also said I should not do anything that will attract fire; they told me they will change the leaking pipe from the pipeline and dig another well for me. But till date, nothing was done.
“Instead, they (NNPC) usually come here to siphon fuel. At times they bring NNPC tankers and jerry cans.”
To underscore the enormity of this operation, it is believed that the vandals make N9 million to N12 million per night at this spot. This will sum up to a multi-billion naira breach in Nigeria oil trade.
These two cases will represent small-scale operations compared to the activities on the high seas where barges and oil tankers are deployed. At the height of the oil theft about a year ago, it was reported by the NNPC that more than one quarter of Nigeria’s crude oil output was being stolen and shipped abroad.
It is worrisome that even the Kachikwu management at the NNPC has not worked out a master plan to tackle this ruinous canker. We note that Nigeria is not the only country where pipelines are laid to move both crude and refined oil; the technology for protecting pipelines have been perfected over the years and all we need do is to borrow it.
In Nigeria as in all poor countries, pipelines will always be breached but vandals (often insiders) are deterred by the sheer knowledge that they would be detected and apprehended. The onus is on NNPC to secure the nation’s most important economic assets. No excuses will fly.
