As the May 29 handover date gradually draw nearer,
Muhammadu Buhari, the president-elect may find that unmasking the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as he has promised, is a
child’s play when compared with the herculean task of entering the dark
world of age-long illegal bunkering spearheaded by principalities and
powers in territorial waters.
In 2010, a United States diplomatic cable, WikiLeaks
revealed that politicians and military leaders, not the militants were
responsible for the majority of oil thefts in the country.
The thefts, according to WikiLeaks, also fuelled arms
sales to the fidget region while causing environmental damage and
cutting production in a nation crucial at the time to US oil supplies,
and specifically stated that retired admirals and generals and political
elites were profiting from crude thefts.
Edwin Clark, a Federal Government delegate to the 2014
National Conference and the acclaimed political ‘godfather’ to the
outgoing President, Goodluck Jonathan, had accused top military
personnel of involvement in illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta.
The Ijaw leader, who traced the trend to the early 1970s,
said when he discovered it he quickly alerted the then president,
Olusegun Obasanjo, who in turn directed General Theophilius Danjuma, who
was the Minister of Defence at the time to investigate the issue, and
that investigation revealed that military personnel were those behind
the illicit oil bunkering.
He also alleged that some of the military officers linked
to the distasteful act had been retired, while others were still in the
service, and advised that to stem the tide, the troops in the Niger
Delta should be changed from time to time, as doing so would go a long
way to curtail the rate at which Nigeria’s oil was stolen.
The Nigerian Navy also said sometime last year that the
country loses about $20 billion annually to crude oil theft, and that an
estimated 55,210 barrels of oil per day or monthly average of 1,656,281
barrels were stolen by oil thieves in 2013.
An informed source who pleaded anonymity due to his
position, told BD SUNDAY that highly placed Nigerians were not just the
only ones involved but that some banks in the country were involved in
financing illegal bunkering as well.
According to him, specified documents are usually sent to
these banks by illegal bunkerers that in turn make huge payments as a
result of the tendered documents.
But Balarabe Musa, a former governor of the old Kaduna
state, blamed the G-7 Nations for the unabated oil thefts spanning over
three decades in the country, and said he was worried over the
invitation extended to the President-Elect by these nations.
The G-7 was formed in 1975 and initially comprised 6
nations – France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.S. and U.K. – with Canada
invited to join the group in 1976.
He said all past military generals and admirals cannot of a
clear conscience deny sufficient knowledge of illegal oil bunkering,
and explained that the absence of strong leadership was responsible for
its continuity.
He said: “You are aware that these same G-7 Nations have
recently invited the president-elect for a meeting. What do you think
they want to discourse with him? They are the ones buying Nigeria’s
stolen oil. They are obviously going to discourse their interest with
him. Illegal bunkering is made possible in Nigeria by these nations”.
He said further that the mafias involved in the illegal
oil bunkering were ‘sacred cows’ no past Nigerian leader has been able
to touch, and that even General Buhari could not do anything about them
when he was military head of state.
“Is Buhari courageous enough to put an end to this
illegality? Was he able to touch these people when he was a military
ruler? Were there not certain people he could not touch? Some of the
people in the illegal business are they not around him today? Buhari had
a record of giving selected justice as a military head of state.
Nigerians better hope he will not repeat the same thing as a civilian
president”, he said.
Balarabe Musa, who also is the national chairman,
Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), blamed the current fuel
crises on the oil marketers and tasked the incoming All Progressive
Congress (APC) government to establish 14 refineries within the shortest
possible time in order to stop importation of refined petroleum product
in the country.
“We should not even be thinking about importing fuel. How
can Nigeria be producing oil and lacking in ability to refine its oil?
The oil marketers have been able to hold Nigerians to ransom because we
have a weak leader. This kind of thing cannot happen under a firm
leader. My question is can Buhari face these mafias? A lot is resting on
him now”, he said, and added that the only way to stem the heinous
crime of illegal oil bunkering was to identify the real culprits and
bring them to book.
Gbenga Taiwo, a PortHarcourt based oil & gas worker,
said the Niger Delta youths only embark on ‘bucket bunkering’, which is
on a small-scale because they do not possess the technological know-how
required for such operation.
According to him, efforts by the international community
to assist Nigeria fight the decades-long problem had been frustrated by
top military personnel and political allies of government, who
benefitted from the illicit oil business.
He said most of the stolen crude was pumped straight from
the pipeline into barges which then transfer the valuable load to ships
waiting off shore, these ships then head to refineries around the world.
“Nigerians must know that of a truth, the people involved
in illegal oil bunkering are highly placed Nigerians with the support of
their foreign partners. Oil bunkering is not a poor man’s job. It is a
business of the elite who have the resources to engage experts in
bunkering, soldiers, Navy, Air force, Police and other security
agencies. They are the high and the mighty. No president, whether
military or civilian has been able to touch them and sadly, Buhari may
not be able to touch them. It is that bad”, he lamented.
In 2010 alone, the JTF said it impounded vessels carrying
724 metric tones of stolen crude and that it destroyed about 6,000
illegal refineries across Niger Delta; and 150 suspects who were
allegedly involved in illegal bunkering were said to have been arrested.
Yinka Odumakin, Publicity Secretary, pan-Yoruba socio
group, Afenifere, told BD SUNDAY that General Buhari would need all the
‘Wisdom of Solomon’, if he would make a head way in the fight against
illegal oil bunkering and to navigate the future of the country.
He said: “That is why I think some the comments coming out
of the North now is not quite appreciative; like somebody saying no
region can lay claim to oil. Rather than engage in inciting comments, we
should be talking about constructive surgery for Nigeria”.
He noted that during the oil wars in the Niger Delta, Musa
Yar’ ‘Adua, Nigerian late president, had to go the creek to meet with
Tom Polo, a former militant warlord, and advised that for the incoming
president to succeed, he must in the same vein reach out to those
involved in the illegality.
According to him, if those who are involved are ‘sacred
cows’ it will be difficult to deal with them because Buhari’s road to
power was paid by special interest and that if the will is there, he can
rise above the challenge posed by the ‘sacred cows’.
“Buhari will need the entire corporation from all the
stakeholders for him to be able to put a stop to illegal oil bunkering.
He needs the buy-in of the stakeholders. It is not something he can use
force to resolve. He must ensure that he does not cause another
agitation in the Niger Delta”, he said.
NATHNIEL AKHIGBE
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