FG urged to curtail rising crude oil theft

House of Representatives member representing Ife federal constituency, Hon. Rotimi Makinde, has raised concerns over the increasing magnitude of crude oil theft and vandalisation in the country, urging the Federal Government to adopt a homegrown tactics to curb the menace.
Makinde, who spoke with newsmen in Lagos, said an estimated 400,000 barrels per day, which translates to about 20 per cent of Nigeria’s crude oil output is being lost to the illicit activities of vandals and thieves.

His words: “Sadly, the activities of oil thieves, which hamper the amount of barrels of oil available for export and insufficient investments in the upstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry, have remained a major impediment to our economic growth and it appears that the government is indifferent.”
Makinde, a member of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) Committee in the lower chamber, expressed doubts about the current security arrangements for petroleum products pipeline in the country, noting that the Federal Government should concede the protection and management of the pipelines across the country to the states of its dominance and fund them accordingly.
"Until there is a deterrent against these organised and systematic stealing of Nigeria’s natural resources, the industry does not stand a chance against illegal bunkering of the magnitude we currently experience.
"Recently we were told by Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) about the effects of oil theft on the Nigerian economy, saying the nation lost over 136 million barrels of crude oil estimated at $10.9 billion through pilfering and sabotage from 2009 to 2011 and that about 10 million barrels of products, valued at $894 million, were also lost to pipeline vandalism in the downstream sector within the period under consideration.
"Honestly, Nigeria's plan to increase crude oil production to 4 million barrels per day and grow the reserves to 40 billion barrels by 2020 is absolutely unrealistic, unless the Federal Government simply transfer the protection of pipeline across the country to the state of its dominance and fund them as we do to oil producing states on first line charges by an agreed and workable template," he stated.
While dissuading calls for involvement of ethnic militias in the protection of pipelines in parts of the country, he noted that, "Government had in the past used traditional rulers and youth leaders, yet, not much success was recorded and this is because engaging anybody without the chief security officer of the state would only be a circus show.”