House C'ttee Seeks Navy's Collaboration to Fish Out Crude Oil Thieves

The House of Representatives’ Special Committee on Crude Oil Theft and Losses, has appealed to the Nigerian Navy to assist it with relevant information to unravel those behind the perennial stealing of the country's crude oil.

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Ado Doguwa, made the appeal during a special engagement with the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla over the weekend.

Doguwa stressed that crude oil theft remains a major concern to the economy of the country, noting that there was the need to extend the hand of fellowship to the relevant security stakeholders that have long been existing in the space to fight against the criminalities.

"You can all recall that the recent projection for the year 2024, the parliament budgeted about N28.77 trillion based on crude oil bench mark of $77.96 per barrel and the production of 1.78 million barrels per day.

“In January 2024, Nigeria’s oil production rose to about 1.42 million barrels per day, this represents an increase of about 6.85 per cent compared to the production figure of 1.39 million barrels per day in December 2023.

"Though there seemed to be a gradual improvement of oil production, but we are still bellow the OPEC quota of 1.58 million barrels per day in the 2024 budget benchmark. The major reason the country is not meeting her production targets is largely attributed to crude oil theft .

“This theft is being carried out in collusion, that not only threaten the economy of the country but has even precipitated crisis bothering on national security," he stated.

In order to address the criminalities, he said the house instituted the special committee and charged it with the responsibility of investigating all dimensions of oil theft with a view to bringing all culprits to book.

He noted that the committee had since commenced legislative work, engaging strategic stakeholders, and will soon begin public investigative hearings on identified malpractices.

He said that on February 9, 2024, the committee visited a site of arrested two vessels in Delta State, for involvement in crude oil theft, noting that the occurrences calls for an overhaul of the security architecture around the oil and gas infrastructure and the nation's marine environment.

“We need to strengthen collaboration among the security agencies and also the private security that we have on ground," he stated.