Buhari is Addressing Crude Oil Theft – Malami

The Attorney-General of the federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami has said Nigeria is making concerted efforts in addressing oil theft including spending enormous resources on pipeline surveillance security through the regular Armed Forces budgetary spending and payments to civilian security companies under unique Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements.

This was made known by the Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, in a statement issued to newsmen.

Malami was quoted to have stated this yesterday, in New York at the Nigeria International Partnership Forum with the theme, ‘Scaling up International Economic Partnerships for Nigeria in a Post Covid – 19 World.’

The forum was organised by the federal government of Nigeria and the African Business Roundtable, an offshoot of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly 2022 where the minister spoke on the topic ‘International Action to Stop Crude Oil Theft:  Proposed Measures and the Road Ahead’

According to the minister, the Buhari-led federal government of Nigeria had also taken operational and strategic measures to deal with the challenge through the signing into Law of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021 (PIA) after several years of Legislative processing and cycles of review.

According to him, the PIA which seeks to provide legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry was one of the most audacious attempts to overhaul the Petroleum sector in Nigeria.

“New specialised entities such as the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPR) with clear mandates and statutory powers to handle specific responsibilities in their respective spheres of regulatory influence, were created under the PIA, among other innovations aimed at improving the Nigerian Oil and Gas landscape,” he said.

He added that the Joint Task Force (JTF), comprising Security Officers from all the relevant Security Forces were committed to the eradication of illegal Artisanal Refineries in the Niger-Delta region as criminals involved in illegal refineries were responsible for about 25 per cent of stolen crude.

Malami noted that the Buhari’s administration was seriously cracking down on crude oil theft with a view to lifting investors’ confidence; mitigate attacks on terminals and the country’s territorial waters.

He said while prosecution of suspected criminals used to be a challenge, the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offenses (SPOMO) Act, 2019 provides legal backing for prosecution and punishment of offenders.

The office of Attorney-General of the Federation remains, “committed to effective prosecution of all crude oil Theft and related cases, including High-Profile ones. On a similar note, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is equally currently prosecuting hundreds of cases bordering on oil theft. All these show a serious resolve by the Nigerian Government to punish offenders.

“As recent as 13th August 2022, the NNPC Ltd, launched an Application to check oil theft, called Crude Theft Monitoring Application.’ The NUPRC is also determined to tackle the menace through Technology with the use of Lease Automatic Custody Transfer (LACT) Meters to check flow and pressure rates and to generally improve measuring capabilities,” he explained.

The statement added that there was also an ongoing multi-agency collaboration involving the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NUPRC, NPMDA, Nigerian Ports Authority, Ports Health Authority, Nigerian Immigration Service, Shipment Inspection Units, – all jointly collaborating to put an end to the menace of oil theft in Nigeria.

The minister noted that it was upon the realisation of the scale of corruption that the government continuously embarked on direct action and creative means of eradicating crimes in Nigeria with all hands being put on deck to ensure the elimination of the crimes by providing security and intelligence officers with sophisticated systems and means to tackle the menace.