The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Bashir Ojulari, has revealed that specialised international and continental gangs exploiting security lapses are behind crude oil theft across Africa.
He stated this in his addressing at the opening of the Africa Chief of Defence Staff Conference in Abuja.
According to him, oil theft is not a localised crime, but a sophisticated operation requiring cross-border collaboration to tackle effectively.
“Crude theft and its attendant illegal activities are by no means a purely localised occurrence; rather, these operations involve specialised international syndicates that take advantage of gaps within the state, national and continental security architecture to conduct illegal activities,” Ojulari stated.
He hailed security operatives for their efforts in combating crime around oil installations, pointing out that crude theft and pipeline vandalism, particularly in the Niger Delta region, had become old occurrences because of the efforts of the security agencies.
Ojulari further noted that the country has attained nearly 100 per cent pipeline and terminal crude oil receipts due to the support of the security forces and intelligence agencies.
“Today, I can proudly report to you all that our pipelines and terminal crude oil receipt, that was somewhere as low as 20 to 30 percent some periods back, we are attaining close to 100 percent due to the support of the security forces and intelligence agencies,” the NNPC chief said.
Again, this achievement would not have been possible without the professionalism, the discipline, the collaborative spirit of our defence and security institutions.”
Speaking in the light of rising geopolitical tensions, Ojulari reaffirmed NNPC’s commitment to supporting the efforts of security and intelligence agencies.
He further emphasised the company’s readiness to strengthen collaboration and cooperation with the military and other relevant institutions to safeguard national interests.
“This support and collaboration have been demonstrated, as mentioned earlier, with our successes in industry-wide security architecture here in Nigeria, which has greatly reduced the incidence of sabotage, vandalism, crude theft, illegal refineries, illegal bunkering, and piracy,” Ojulari said.
“We envision, by virtue of these gatherings and initiatives to be developed, an expanded architecture that takes into account the activities on a regional and continental level with all the enabling tools, policies, and technologies to allow seamless synergies and collaboration across borders.”
Ojulari assured that Nigeria’s oil and gas sector “stands ready to complement this effort, as we eagerly articulate the benefit to be accrued for the ultimate upliftment of all the stakeholders as citizenry across our borders”.
He added that through collective effort, participants can safeguard Africa’s resources, strengthen peace, and create an enabling environment for the continent’s prosperity.
