A retired Admiral in the Nigerian Navy who manned the maritime sector and witnessed the impunity with which the crude oil thieves operated has a message for the government of Ahmed Bola Tinubu: “Direct the military to blow up any ship used in stealing our crude oil, sink the ship with its crew, do so two or three times and see if crude oil theft will not be a thing of the past in Nigeria.”
The Admiral said his suggestion was backed by his knowledge of the impunity with which the oil thieves operate because many top Nigerians are involved in the illicit business.
He said that any government without the strong political will to stop the menace would end up merely mouthing their intention without achieving results like had always being the case with past governments. He revealed that top politicians, key government agencies and security agents were involved in the business.
Recently, the Senate disclosed that the country had lost N2.3 trillion to the menace of crude oil theft in 2023 alone. The retired officer described oil as Nigeria’s blood, saying that government must be able to declare war on anybody ‘who is sucking that oil because the result of such action would lead to our death, so we have to kill the person before he kills us.” He fingered the Judiciary, banks, some legislators, both serving and retired, Nigerian companies and security agencies as culprits in the menace of crude oil theft in Nigeria.
“Government should be bold enough if it wants to stop this thing, by declaring illegal oil bunkering activities as a war against Nigeria and that all security agencies should attack that vessel with whatever resource they have on board.
“If I had my way, we should empower security agencies to attack and destroy any vessel, when I say vessel, I mean any floating object, any vessel that is capable of floating and being used for transportation of any contraband, any crude oil, anything concerning our mineral resources, they should take it as an enemy vessel and sink it. They should attack it, including everybody inside, they should waste all.
”By the time we do it two or three times, ships will stop coming into Nigeria to steal our oil and all the people in the creek will stop work because there will be nobody to load from them because they cannot enter our waters again”.
Indicts Judiciary
Security agencies, especially the Navy and oil companies have been the most accused of culpability. However, the revelation from the retired security personnel indicted the Judiciary for aiding and abetting perpetrators of crude oil theft.
He accused the judiciary of frustrating the efforts of security agents, disclosing that immediately after suspects were arrested with evidence of stealing the nation’s oil and charged to court, they would be released in a short time and would return to their stock in trade.
He said, “Sometimes security agencies are disgraced along the line because if you arrest people who are stealing our oil, later you will see the same people walking freely and insulting you.
“At other times, they(Judiciary ) would ask how you knew it was crude oil that was loaded in the vessel. They would conclude that it was oily water. What is oily water? It’s supposed to be like waste products which is also very important because the waste product from petroleum can come back as either High Pour Fuel Oil or Low Pour Fuel Oil (HPFO or LPFO) that can be used by heavy machinery like textile mills or cement factories.
What these suspects do is to identify the product as oily water, then, the ship will be paid to go and discharge this oily water to companies that need them. I don’t need to mention companies that are into production of cement in Nigeria. Some of them are the ones even funding all these illegalities. I’m saying it with all seriousness because I was there, it’s not like it is hearsay.
Resolutions
“There were so many occasions we held meetings in the Navy that any person that deals illegally with our oil has declared war against Nigeria. Because the oil is our own lifeline. We said any person that distorts whatever Nigeria is supposed to get from it has declared war on Nigeria.
“We said two things: we begged the government to authorize the Navy to have prosecuting power but it was not granted. At present, the Navy does not have prosecuting power, it’s only the Police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC . Once you hand suspects over to these people, that’s the end of the matter.
Another resolution was to appeal to the government to declare that any oil smuggler, any person that is dealing illegally on Nigerian crude or whatever, has declared war on Nigeria and should be dealt with as an enemy.
“In that case, the Navy should be authorized to sink any ship because it’s a declaration of war against Nigeria. For you to bring your ship into Nigerian territorial water and suck out our blood, you want Nigeria to die. So ,so you should be attacked, there should be no mercy. That one too was not granted.
“That is why the hands of the security agencies became weak because if they arrest suspects , the case will not go anywhere. That is why some of them resorted to saying, ”okay o boy, since we arrest and nothing happens, let me collect my own”.
Indicts oil company
Some officials of NNPC (not NNPC as a company) were not spared either, as they were alleged to be conniving with perpetrators of crude oil theft.
He cited instances where ships with capacity to carry two million barrels of crude would be given approval to load just ten percent of their capacity.
He said, “ Sometimes, ships that have capacity to carry two million barrels of crude come , are given approval by NNPC officials to come and load 200 thousand. So, 1.8 million barrels of vacancy will be in the ship? Is it sensible for you to rent a trailer from Lagos that can carry 600 bags of cement, you’ll now hire that trailer to go to Maiduguri to bring 20 bags of cement for you?. It means there is an ulterior motive.
“Some oil company people are the biggest culprits. On several occasions vessels were arrested with containers of products , NNPC will tell you that there were no missing products. So, where did these people carry this thing from?
Bankers
Bankers were also fingered as part of the cartel . The retired admiral said, “ NNPC is there. But the worst are the bankers who connive with these so-called people who say they are importing fuel, by issuing them fake form M . Normally the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR will authorize a vessel to bring in a certain quantity but that vessel will not go anywhere. They will just collect product from NNPC and gallivant the whole waters, saying they want to discharge off shore Bonny. Then they will present the fake form M which is evidence of payment.
“As for subsidies, they’ll tell you that a particular ship is bringing in a certain quantity of PMS, whereas it is not bringing anything. That ship will use the same form M, the same DPR approval and NNPC authorization from Abuja. That same ship will just go, change colour, change name and come back about ten times.
“It is a very big problem for Nigeria, I don’t know how it will be solved. We’re just waiting for the day the whole system will collapse. It has reached the level that you don’t even know who to hold culpable because everybody is involved. When I mean everybody, I mean from up to bottom.
Private security involvement
On the recent argument between the Nigerian Navy and officials of Tantita Security Services over the arrest of a 77-meter Motor Tanker with 17 crew members for crude oil theft, the retired admiral said he felt that it was a mistake “handing over such critical facilities to a private sector to protect.”
”In some countries, we have things like that so that the Navy and other agencies will have time to go and prosecute and defend their countries against external aggression.
“ But in Nigeria, we have no reason to do that. Some of the private agencies have a bunch of criminals. As for the Navy people that are going there, I cannot absolve them from any illegality because instead of doing their job, some of them are part of the show. So, I cannot categorically say the Navy is innocent. No, we have some bad eggs there.
“But the private agencies have accomplices in all these. They know everything, they know what is going on. You need to see when they clash with other security agencies.
This thing is clear. If the NNPC declares that it did not authorize the operation of any ship, any of the agencies can arrest that vessel and it should not bring any trouble.
Way out
“The ships are owned by the big ogas , all of them from up to bottom, in the name of our senators, top Nigerians in and outside government and the rest, are all part of the show.
The way forward, as I stated earlier, is for the government to declare any person stealing our oil as an enemy of the state and such an enemy should be attacked with full force.
Nothing like arrest, they should sink the ship because that person has decided to kill Nigeria. Any person that sucks out our blood wants us to die because oil is the blood of Nigeria.
“ I know that will be difficult for them to pronounce just as it is very difficult for them to say that the Armed Forces should have prosecuting power on oil thieves. If two or three ships are attacked and forced to sink with their crew, crude oil theft will stop.
The news will go around the world and those sending ships with the connivance of Nigerians will stop. Nobody wants to die”, the retired Admiral said.
Credit: Vanguard News Nigeria