Much of Nigeria’s oil wealth is lost to illegal bunkering. It is an entrenched business because the authorities have been treating the phenomenon with kid gloves. With the downturn in the oil sector, however, following tumbling prices in the global market, the Federal Government should act fast to block further revenue losses from this illicit trade.
The state-run oil behemoth, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, appears to be conscious of this with its recent renewed response to the challenge – the desire to deploy drones to monitor the movement of oil vessels. This will be a game-changer if effectively implemented.
“We are launching an armada of approaches, which will include incorporation of drones, to check movements of vessels within our territorial waters; we are looking at the current logistical nightmares of changing the staffing at the loading bay of crude export terminals virtually every 90 days; we are trying to equip the Navy sufficiently…,” the NNPC said in a statement signed by Ohi Alegbe, its spokesman.
Not a few sea-going rogue vessels have been caught in the country’s territorial waters. Late last year, nine foreigners – five Filipinos and four Bangladeshi – were each sentenced to a five-year jail term by a Federal High Court presided over by Ibrahim Buba for stealing 3,423 metric tons of crude oil. Their ship – MT Asteris – has been forfeited to the Federal Government. Many more were caught in the past, but let off the hook by corrupt security and government officials.
The merchants are so daring that they sometimes attempt to bribe security personnel deployed in the Niger Delta region to contain their illegal activities. The then military JTF Commander, Emmanuel Atewe, gave an account of a bizarre incident that involved two British nationals. He said they “requested a meeting with the Commander of 4 Brigade where the suspects pleaded to be allowed to connect a hose to the Shell Petroleum Development Company pipeline along the Chanomi creek in Delta State to illegally siphon crude oil into barges.” They offered a bribe to the officer, which was rejected, before they were arrested.
The Base Operations Officer, Nigerian Naval Ship Pathfinder, Innocent Ejiofor, said in August that the base deployed gunboats daily as they chased local collaborators with oil thieves. The Port Harcourt, Bonny Channels and Onne axis are among the notorious windows for the business. He said, “The Gunboat Team located a large illegal bunkering site along NAFCON Creeks, Onne axis.”
Nigeria’s stolen crude, says the United Kingdom-based think tank, Chatham House, is believed to have found its way to Brazil, China, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. According to Oilprice.com, Nigeria is first, ahead of Mexico, Iraq, Russia and Indonesia, in a global ranking of countries that are worst hit by this criminality.
World leaders are keying into the call for synergy in halting the brigandage. Last year, China intercepted some ships laden with stolen crude from Nigeria; and on the sidelines of the 70th United Nations General Assembly, President Muhammadu Buhari seized the moment to thank his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, for that country’s effort.
Chatham House, in a 2013 report, identified military personnel, militants, and oil workers as part of an elaborate syndicate behind illegal oil bunkering in the country. “Nigeria’s crude oil is being stolen on an industrial scale,” Chatham House had declared. It estimated that an average of 100,000 barrels was stolen daily.
Illegal bunkering activities often promote the violation of Nigeria’s territorial waters by ships, which enter without permit and are intercepted by the Navy. In March 2014, the Commander of the Nigerian Navy Ship Pathfinder, Godwin Ochai, reported the arrest of 22 Chinese and impounding of four ships at Onne, Rivers State. Their mission was not clear. Ochai said, “When our troops went on board the alien ships, they discovered that the four ships had no immediate document, neither did the 22 crew members have passports.”
Sadly, it is the local environment that has created the fertile ground for this business to thrive. Transparency is lacking in all aspects of the management of Nigeria’s oil resources. Some international oil companies doing business in Nigeria have exploited it to be dodgy in their operations. Just three of them accounted for the loss of 160 million barrels of crude worth $13.7 billion between 2009 and 2012, according to the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative audit, based on inspection of their records.
To contain illegal bunkering, experts suggest a survey of small and medium oil tankers that frequently anchor offshore the Niger Delta and mapping of the main illegal bunkering hotspots. As a do-or-die business, the masterminds are armed to the teeth. This is why 350 persons, comprising security personnel, NNPC workers, and host community members, have been killed in the last three years by organised syndicates associated with the mayhem in the oil sector.
Ending illegal bunkering activities requires urgent action, not rhetoric. Countries with such a challenge and huge oil infrastructure have used technology to do the work: devices are deployed to pipelines to detect any form of breach. The Navy needs to be better equipped with more boats for effective patrol, just as the Nigeria Air Force requires more helicopters for aerial surveillance.
Instructively, the full wrath of the law should be unleashed on the criminals by diligently prosecuting and jailing them. The country’s failure to demonstrate this power over the years is why these international rogues have taken it for a ride.
