By joshua 
Ayo Ola
The leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark has said it is imperative for the Federal Government to institute a judicial inquiry to investigate oil theft in Nigeria.
He spoke during a media briefing in Abuja on Tuesday.
The theme of the conference is ‘Call for a judicial inquiry into the criminal act or oil theft now sabotaging our national economy.”
Below is a text of the media briefing.
“My attention and that of the entire country have been drawn to the recent discovery of a large scale and sophisticated oil theft machinery going on at the deep swamps at Yokri, close to the Forcados terminal.
“According to reports, high powered technological engineering expertise is applied to steal crude oil from the Forcados line, and transported through a four-kilometre pipeline to a platform in the sea, which belongs to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and its partners. This report also states that as many as two hundred barrels of crude oil are being stolen from there every day and that this has been going on since 2014.
“According to NNPCL, this is part of the 470 thousand barrels of crude oil that is being lost every month, amounting to $700 million. Although the NNPCL thinks these have been going on in the past 20 years, some of us have always insisted that this oil theft has been going on for much longer, for about 50 years.
“In retrospect, my visit to Forcados oil terminal in the company of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, then as Federal Commissioner of Finance in 1972, while I was the Commissioner for Finance of Mid-West State, was quite revealing. During that visit, we clearly observed that there were no proper accounts or records of what is been exported through the Forcados terminal.
“THE FOUR KILOMETERS PIPELINE:
The news that there is an illicit FOUR kilometres pipeline, through which crude oil is being siphoned, goes to confirm what I have always said over the years, and what the leaders of the Niger Delta have been shouting about, that the issue of oil theft is being perpetuated by some mafia-like groups, with the connivance of some people in the oil industry, using sophisticated engineering methods to carry out their nefarious act. Even, more disturbing is that these activities have been going on over the years under the watchful eyes of the military and security personnel; security personnel who are supposed to be protecting these oil pipelines with the large numbers of gunboats to patrol the area, are unfortunately alleged to be involved in these criminal acts. The host communities, from where these oil explorations are carried out, but who are victims of the activities, since they cannot dictate to the oil companies and security officials, have always raised the alarm that the quantum of oil theft going on, is nothing compared to what the artisanal refinery operators are doing. What is going on, is a sophisticated criminal act, carried out by a syndicate. “The investigation to this matter must be full, open and comprehensive if there is sincerity to unravel what is going on. THERE MUST BE NO SACRED COWIt is particularly pleasing to note that it is the private security company operated by Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, Tantita Security Services Limited, and the community youths whom he has recruited, that have brought this shameful act to the public and not the NNPCL and its partners or the military. When the revelation was made, some government officials and some heads of security arms, embarked on a visit to the creeks to see for themselves, the discovery. In the team that embarked on the visit, apart from the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, and the Managing Director of Tantita Security Services Limited, Keston Pondi, the other government officials interviewed are from the northern part of the country. This brings to fore, once again, the marginalisation and neglect of the people of the Niger Delta. We, therefore, once again, demand that these people, who have been dominating the oil industry, may need to explain why these nefarious acts have been going on for this long in the Niger Delta.
“The investigation into this matter, which has been affecting the national economy so badly, must uncover all government officials including the military, top officials of the NNPCL and their collaborators, who have inflicted such magnitude of harm on the country, and on the Niger Delta communities, endangering the life and well being of the people of the oil-bearing communities, they live largely in opulence on the blood of the people of the communities that produce the oil.It is dangerously incredible that crude oil theft, despite all the securities around, has assumed a wider dimension, to the extent that the quantity of crude oil we export today is less than the quantity being stolen by a gang of thieves of various designations.
“The stealing of crude oil is a well-managed cartel of government officials, the oil companies and the security agents. Therefore, it is unfair and unjust to accuse the inhabitants of the oil-producing areas or host communities, of being responsible for the stealing of crude oil. While not defending these host communities, the stealing of crude oil being carried out by these group of individuals, are very minimal or negligible, as compared with the industrial stealing by some international organisations, in collaboration with some members of the security forces.
The host communities of the Niger Delta people are not involved in the marketing and the lifting of oil of this magnitude. Today, the people of the Niger Delta, are among the poorest people in the country. This cannot continue forever.
“Due to my constant criticism against the federal government and the NNPCL on the operation of the oil industry in the Niger Delta, and my consistently drawing the attention of the federal government and the NNPCL, about the employment policy in the oil industry, whereby the majority of the workers, particularly at the managerial cadres, are northerners, I have been singled out and branded an enemy of the federal government and as an anti-north, and not to be patronized by the government.
“Conviction of Admirals confirms Navy role in oil theft. Typical evidence to show that the military are involved is contained in the analysis of the Report on the arrest of the MT African Pride off Forcados Terminal on 8 October 2003, whereby, three senior naval officers were tried, and I narrate hereunder extract of that case:
“The Nigerian navy has sacked and demoted two admirals for their role in the disappearance of a tanker vessel which had been arrested for transporting 11,000 tonnes of stolen crude oil. The ruling, announced by a court martial on Wednesday, confirmed long-held suspicions that some of Nigeria’s top military commanders are personally involved in “bunkering” – the theft of crude oil in the Niger delta for sale to tankers waiting offshore. Oil company officials estimate that the racket, conducted by heavily armed gangs, creams off up to 10 per cent of Nigeria’s oil production of nearly 2.5 million barrels per day.
“The two-month court martial in Lagos ruled that Rear Admirals Francis Agbiti and Samuel Kolawole should be demoted to the rank of Commodore and dismissed from the navy for their negligence in allowing the arrested tanker African Pride to escape from navy custody in Lagos harbour in August 2004.A third defendant, Rear Admiral Antonio Bob-Manuel, was found innocent of all charges. The African Pride had been intercepted on the high seas on 8 October 2003 near Royal Dutch Shell’s Forcados oil export terminal and was found to have taken on board 11,000 tonnes of crude oil without authorisation. Its 13-man Russian crew was arrested and is still awaiting trial by a Lagos court. Rear Admiral Joseph Ajayi, the president of the court-martial, said Agbiti and Kolawole had failed in their duty to protect Nigeria’s oil wealth, the source of more than 90 per cent of the country’s export earnings.
“No matter how painful, we shall be failing in our responsibility if the appropriate punishment is not meted out,” he said in the court martial’s final ruling. The two senior officers appear to have got off lightly without being sent to jail.All the same, the court martial’s verdict constituted a harsh indictment of the navy itself.For the first time ever, it provided official confirmation of long-held suspicions that top Navy officers were deeply involved in bunkering. Military prosecutors said Agbiti had attempted to release the African Pride on the very day it was seized. The tanker’s cargo of crude oil was illegally transferred to another ship three weeks later, while the vessel remained in Navy custody. Court papers showed that Kolawole had allowed Russian officials to visit the ship without authorization and that he later ensured there was no guard on board the ship when it disappeared around 10 August 2004. Prosecutors further alleged that Agbiti and Kolawole were responsible for the “simultaneous alteration, destruction and removal of documents” following the ship’s disappearance. Two junior navy officers, Jonathan Ihejiawu and Suleiman Atan, told the court-martial that they were paid 250,000 naira each (US$1,850) by one Lieutenant Commander Mohammed Abubakar on 31 October 2003, to escort the MT African Pride from Lagos harbour to the high seas where its cargo was transferred to a waiting ship and replaced by seawater. The two junior officers said Abubakar had told them the payment was from the “Big Boys” in the Navy.
Multinational oil companies have repeatedly expressed concern about the activities of sophisticated criminal gangs that illegally tap crude oil from pipelines in the mangrove swamps and creeks of the Niger Delta, where most of Nigeria’s oil is produced.
“Besides triggering the court martial of three senior Navy officers, the disappearance of the African Pride gave rise to a parliamentary investigation. Testimony to this inquiry has suggested that the overall head of the Navy may himself have been involved in bunkering.
Navy Captain Peter Duke, who was formerly in charge of guarding arrested ships, told the inquiry committee that Vice Admiral Samuel Afolayan, the Chief of Staff of the navy, had forced him to release another ship seized for dealing illegally in crude oil, the Molab Trader.”
“Crude oil theft is definitely part of the universal corruption that is killing Nigeria. The Federal and State Governments do not seriously tackle the issue of eradication of corruption in our country. The stealing is not only done through pipelines; both onshore and underwater, and even the oil terminals where the export of crude oil is carried out. Another thing we discovered later, is that apart from these Government officials at the oil terminal and the international oil company officials, there is a military cabal, very much involved in the theft of oil.
“I observed from my own investigations, that some military officers, cutting across all ranks, lobby their way through to be posted to Niger-Delta, in order to be involved in the stealing of oil, and this is indeed very dangerous.
“In 1999, immediately after the assumption of office by President Olusegun Obasanjo, about 40 Ijaw, Urhobo and Itsekiri leaders, were invited to a meeting in Abuja by the President, to resolve the fratricidal war between the three ethnic nationalities. This visit was an offshoot of President Obasanjo’s visit to the Niger Delta. I was the leader of the Ijaw delegation, Chief O.P. Edodo was the leader of the Itsekiri delegation, and Chief Benjamin Okumagba was the leader of the Urhobo delegation.
“Stealing of crude oil, was one of the issues discussed at that meeting. when it was my turn to speak, I made categorical accusations in the presence of all government officials who were sitting on the opposite side, that the military, particularly the Navy, has a hand in the stealing of oil. President Olusegun Obasanjo immediately set up a panel headed by General T.Y. Danjuma, who was then the Minister of Defence, to investigate my allegations against the security forces. Other members of the panel included a Traditional Ruler from Delta State, His Royal Majesty, the Obi of Owa. The General T.Y. Danjuma Panel went to the Niger Delta and investigated the allegations. The reports of that panel, are there in the archives of the presidency.
So, I am not just saying that these people are involved. They were involved, and are still involved up till today.
Bunkering by the Niger Delta Youths
“It is now clear that the impression that the massive oil stealing is being perpetrated mostly by the Niger Delta youths, was deliberately created by the oil industry officials to cover their criminal acts. Now, by the grace of God, Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo)’s security company, Tantita Security Services Limited, has found out the truth. The refusal of the oil companies and the NNPCL to engage the youths of the Niger Delta, even though they are qualified, is responsible for their finding a way of survival by engaging in bunkering. As I always said, they do not do sophisticated type of bunkering. They do what I called buckets or jerry cans bunkering. None of them can hire a boat like the MT African Pride from abroad, for the purpose of stealing; they could make their own local boats.
“I list hereunder some typical examples of their frustrations:
“1. For instance, in a lecture I gave at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), I said that our youths, young graduates who attend the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), in faraway places, outside their own state, who return home at the end of their one-year national service, return home to joblessness, despite the fact that there are companies operating in their area and communities. Whereas, their counterparts from other parts of Nigeria, who are posted to the Niger Delta, at the end of the one year, are retained by the oil companies because the management positions are occupied by their people. So, they get employed, while our boys and girls return home without jobs.
“2. These jobless boys have nothing to do, have nothing to live and survive. I had stated a case before in 1986, in Warri, there was a fight between some of these Niger Delta youths and the security forces at the Warri Airport. At that time the airport was a narrow strip along the Airport Road, Warri. What happened when I got there, was that, I saw that two of the boys had been shot dead by the security forces. What was the problem? The Niger Delta youths said that they were told that one of the overseas oil companies was recruiting divers and swimmers from outside the Niger Delta, and these recruits, were being carried in helicopters to the Escravos and to the Forcados terminals.
The youths protested, saying that they were available to be recruited, adding that they are natural swimmers and divers, yet they were not being employed, rather, the companies go outside the region, to employ people, who even have to be taught how to swim and how to dive. That was the arrangement of things and that was responsible for the fight.
“3. There was another case where the Niger Delta youths have been short-changed and discriminated against in their own home, by the NNPC officials in Warri. One day, I was forced to visit the Warri Refinery to see things for myself and I thought I was in Kaduna because the majority of the boys were wearing babariga dresses, with northern caps, and speaking Hausa language. The majority of the northerners were full staff of the corporation, while most of the southerners were the temporary and casual staff. The northern staff were put over and above the southern staff that are permanent and they were paid more. Whenever there is retrenchment, it affects the southerners because their position is temporary and casual. When the refinery is not working, they dropped all the southern staff and kept the northern staff. Only the jobs of the northern staff were secured. Some of the northerners were posted to other subsidiaries of the NNPC, while the southern staff lost their jobs completely. The southern staff that had worked for ten years and above and wanted to be confirmed, were not confirmed. When the southerners were retrenched, most of the people that remained were northerners and they were being paid.
“While I am not against employing northerners, the level of discrimination of the southerners, is appalling. The youths of the Niger Delta had to look for a means of survival. This is not, however, to support their activities.
I am therefore using this opportunity, to again, appeal to my fellow Nigerians who have taken over the ownership and management of the oil industries in the Niger Delta, the NNPCL in particular, to employ our youths into the various department of the oil industries, and not to make them beggars in their own home.
“The unity of Nigeria can only be kept if the citizens are all equal, and everybody had the opportunity to climb to the highest office in his/her country.
“I also want to use this medium to commend Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo), and his company, Tantita Securities Limited, for this huge discovery and exposure of such a criminal act against the state.
It definitely has proved that the award of the surveillance contract to him, was not misplaced.
“Finally, I want to advise the Federal Government to institute a judicial inquiry to investigate this criminal act of oil theft. And also, to once again, appeal that jobs should be provided for the teeming unemployed youths; modular refineries should be built to replace the illegal refineries being currently operated, and which do not only affect the economy of the country but is also devastating the Niger Delta environment. The international oil companies (IOCs) should be directed, once again, this time with sincerity of purpose, to relocate their operational headquarters to the Niger Delta region, if there is a genuine desire to end this menace.”