The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bashir Ojulari, has said that specialised international and continental gangs take advantage of security gaps to steal the crude across Africa.
Ojulari stated this at the opening of the Africa Chief of Defence Staff Conference held in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, on Monday.
He said crude oil theft has continental and international dimensions and should be tackled holistically through collaboration and synergy among various military formations across Africa.
“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,” he said in a room filled with defence chiefs from countries across Africa.
The NNPCL boss, however, declared that crude theft and pipeline vandalism, especially within the oil-rich Niger Delta area of Nigeria, have become old occurrences because of the efforts of security agencies.
“Security forms a key pillar of the energy business and therefore plays a very important and strategic role in achieving national, regional and continental energy security goals,” he said.
Ojulari said as the head of the largest national oil company on the continent, “we have seen the benefit of the collaboration within the energy space, with significant improvement in our operating environment”.
“The dilapidating impact of crude theft, low pipeline availability and attacks are issues that have become stories of the past for us.
“These have come from the immense and intentional efforts of our government agencies across the nation and, in particular, within the Niger Delta.
“Today, I can proudly report to you all that our pipelines and terminals’ receipt of crude oil, which was somewhere as low as 20% to 30%, we are attaining close to 100% due to the support of the security forces and the intelligence agencies,” he added.
Ojulari said continental forums such as the gathering should be encouraged to strengthen strategic activities within the continent.
Personalities who graced the event include the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed; Vice President Kashim Shettima, who represented President Bola Tinubu; Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa; ECOWAS Commission President, Omar Touray; Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahamoud Youssouf; former Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, Ibrahim Gambari; and the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji.
