The recent destruction of the 12-man crew vessel said to be carrying 150,000 metric tons of crude oil seized on the Nigerian Waters, has once again, exposed how severely the country has been raped by corrupt individuals.

The vessel was said to have been intercepted by a pipeline surveillance company and the Joint Task Force Operation Delta, last week.

While the vessel was burning, Executive Director, Operations Technical, Tantita Security Services, Capt. Warredi Enisuoh, issued warning to all intending investors in illegality in Nigerian Waters, that same fate awaits them.

According to him, both “locals and internationals who wish to partner to work against Nigeria”, will receive same treatment on their assets.

“For decades, oil theft has gone on successfully in Nigeria such that one can’t help asking, where are these illegal vessels loaded? Who loads them and why are they never intercepted before they get on to Nigeria’s water ways?”

On this note, HRM King Bubaraye Dakolo, Chairman of Bayelsa Traditional Rulers Council who has researched and authored a book on the subject of oil thievery in the country, said that he does not know why law enforcement does not know when the vessels are loaded until they leave the terminal and begin making its way into Nigerian waters, adding that the question is for law enforcement to answer.

As for the vessel carrying 150,000 metric tons that was destroyed, he explained: “to put it clearly, that’s about one million, six hundred thousand barrels and that amounts to well over a hundred million dollars which runs into billions of naira.

“That’s the amount of the value of what was inside there and also approximately what Nigeria produces in a day. That’s about 1.8 million barrels a day.”
King Dakolo who spoke on Arise TV programme on Wednesday, reasoned that since it takes a while to load the vessels, the destroyed vessel must have been loaded in an unauthorised loading bay stressing that “the authorities of NNPC were supposed to know and I think they know.

“There is also usually law enforcement at the terminals so definitely, all the agencies knew that this was taking place.”

The renowned environmental and human rights activist condemned the setting ablaze of the vessel, describing the action as archaic. “Setting that vessel ablaze is completely out of 2023. Its something that should happen in 1440 or 1450.

“We are talking about ozone layer depletion, talking about Nigeria not having the money we should have for our welfare and then you burn off billions of naira, multi millions of dollars worth of crude and in the process, poison us. Its completely unaccepted.

“This has to stop. The presidency has to issue a quick order to stop burning or wasting resources in that manner. For those of us in the Niger Delta, as you burn it, you are polluting us, killing us, you are destroying the entire environment.

“What is the difference between the vandals and authorised vandals in this particular case? Because setting ablaze that quantity of crude oil was as good as asphyxiating the entire Niger Delta. Several persons are going to die of asthma and such diseases in the next couple of days,” he stated.

He suggested that apprehending the culprits with evidence, international standard of investigating and prosecuting those involved should have been followed, stressing that “Going in this crude manner will make the vessel sink and be in that waterway and constitute nuisance to fishermen who of course have to be Niger Deltans and those who use that water way.”

On always parading workers in apprehended vessels rather than investigating and exposing the top shots who are the real oil thieves, King Dakolo said, “I can tell you for free that the vehicle was burnt because it was cheaper to burn it than to rein in the oil thief that is behind it all.

“Usually what Nigeria has done is to parade young helpless, improperly educated, jobless youth from the Niger Delta as the typical thief but I argue that such a person shouldn’t be called a thief but rehabilitated. He is a victim of oil thieves. The real thief of oil is someone who has a yacht, golf course, who cannot sleep a night in Niger Delta because of mosquitoes and insecurity.

“Its someone who has properties in London, Banana Island, Abuja, Frankfurt, New York City. Those are thieves; they have a lot of money.”

He insisted that, “The authorities know clearly, who and who are behind oil theft. Someone came on TV sometime and showed clearly where all the stolen oil goes. If this particular oil was allowed, it would have gone to either, Britain, America or China, or India.

“The world knows them. Everyone in authority knows them. “The subsidy thieves, the subsidy rocketeers, they are saying oh you want subsidy to go, what of those who have been milking the system for decades; who brought in one ship load and collected money for 10 ship loads, who brought in no ship load but perfected papers and collected 20 ship loads.

“The racketeering has been going on and on and if you stop the oil subsidy and no one is going in for it, what have you done? Billions have been stolen, Nigerians have been fixed, that is the game. And it goes on.”

The author of the book, “The Riddle of the Oil Thief”, who further described the burning of the vessel as a jungle justice, stated that the reason they present the face of uneducated, unemployed persons from Niger Delta as the thief is to distract the world, noting emphatically that “That vessel was set ablaze so they don’t get to the big men involved.

“Governments of foreign countries, NNPC, many more are involved.” Regarding the use of non-state actors to monitor the waterways, he said “it underscores how low the Nigerian state has descended where it seems to have lost faith in our law enforcement to the level that private, perhaps not so well-trained hands are engaged to help you do the job. Our economy is in tatters, no job, and so everyone is looking at how to make a living out of everything.

“If Nigerian government were able to get the economy working to the point where a dollar is to a naira, people will not want to go and vandalize oil facilities.

“What Nigeria government should do is to equip the Navy, give them more funds, equip law enforcement, give them more funds and training to be professionals. Bringing in hands that are not as trained, to do job meant for the Navy, is an insult to Nigerian state, and the Navy.

“The authorities of Nigeria at different levels know the thieves, some of them are part of the thieves. That is why no one wants to bring them to book, and that’s why they’re not in jail. Oil thievery can end within two weeks, if Nigeria is ready,” he intoned.