Wouldn’t it just be wise and convenient if we all take the next train to Niamey? Because how is it that before our very eyes, a nation could be wasting away and there’s nothing anyone can do to chase away the ‘vermin’ biting and chewing at every fiber of our federal assembly.
Some are in the forest killing, maiming and collecting tax and ransom; and all that Nasir El Rufai can do is to write memos the Prince of Daura would never read. Some others are in the high seas shipping off the black gold to far away countries, putting the dollars in their pockets, and then after they bring back the refined fuel for us to buy at cut throat price and as if that is not enough they still collect subsidy payment for deserts.
Either way, the cartel behind oil theft in Nigeria is raking in billions of dollars, while our political heads come up on TV and sing for all who care to listen… Oil theft, Oil theft.. and then when they are done, that chicky madam in the Ministry of Finance would come and yap in the pages of newspapers saying the nation is swimming in debt and would have to borrow money to meet up with government expenses.
Meanwhile on a daily basis the nation’s wealth is being purloined by the very people who swore to serve with all their heart and soul. As it has turned out to be, these people have no heart and soul. They are colluding with international syndicates to drain Nigeria’s oil wells, and this is a betrayal of the highest order.
These are the kinds of things people do in Saudi Arabia and China, and the authorities chop off their hands or get them executed. Any surprise that Aramco and Sinopec the oil companies in these countries are declaring Huge profits? In six months of the Ukraine/Russia war Aramco has raked in $87billion while the NNPC despite the repainting without “repentance” cannot tell the nation just how much it has made and just how much oil it has sold.
Instead, all that the citizens hear on the radio is how much that has been lost or stolen to crude oil theft. Based on reports and findings, 90 percent of crude pumped out at the Bonny terminal is unaccounted for. There’s no documentation of who is lifting and who is waiting to lift whatever. There is no metering of flow from the wells, this also another loss of revenue to the government.
Over the years, Nigerian officials and multinational corporations on and off shore have worked hand in hand to siphon and ship oil in shady and shadowy deals. But it has gotten to an impunity stage under the present administration whose priority it seems is to get the refinery in Maradi working. Between January 2021 and January 2022 an estimated revenue of $3.2b has been lost and there’s no indication the losses would be arrested.
The price of oil per barrel today is up, OPEC asked members to jack up production to stabilize the market and so far Nigerian is not reaping from the windfall because of leakages here and there. The NNPC and it’s co-conspiracy companies cannot get 1.8m barrels into the official market. But through the back door some of this crude is fraudulently diverted into the black market. It’s another Aboki forex all together.
Government is pathetically weak to protect that which is key to protect. They can only send the Army, NDSC and Navy after boys in hood some of whom were laid off from the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries and they have invaded the mangrove forests to do monkey business. These “swamp rats” are threats to the community and the ecosystem no doubt, but a serious government would rather look into what it can do so that their activities can be both beneficial to them and country instead of blowing up their ‘Biafra refineries’ causing more environmental catastrophe. No matter how crude it might be, these swamp refineries can save the government some foreign exchange.
Meanwhile Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s “Authority stealing pass arm robbery” comes to mind. The real culprits of oil theft are the big shots in the corridors of power and their go-between. Why haven’t the myriads of committees and measures engaged by the government curbed the malady of oil theft?
Quite simply you don’t expect a judge to detain himself for sleeping with his girlfriend or side chick, it is morally wrong but Mr. Judge doesn’t care a hoot. That’s the kind of shameless sacrilege the people in power and in the NNPC are committing every Nigerian day under the sun, moon and stars. No one would ever be caught.
It’s only when the heat is becoming unbearable and the security forces want to do some lip service they arrest those who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like last week a super tanker was spotted near the Bonny terminal with a foreign crew.
The tanker had no valid papers to lift oil but was seen in the vicinity of the Bonny terminal. It was ordered to surrender by the Nigeria Navy but they fled. How can a tanker out run a frigate? It was the Equatorial Guinea Navy that nabbed the ship. Why can’t the crew be brought to shore to explain their mission, who sent them and where they intend to take the oil to. Of course to Mexico, Brazil where big time Nigerian oil magnates have interests in refineries.
Don’t forget February 25, 2023, don’t let them give you ‘kulikuli and a loaf of Agege,’ so that you can vote in business as usual.