The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has deactivated 6,409 illegal refineries in the Niger Delta region.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr Mele Kyari, made the disclosure at an interactive session with the EFCC’s chairman, Mr Ola Olukoyede, which was held at the NNPC Towers in Abuja.

Speaking about the efforts by NNPC Ltd to eradicate corruption from its system; stem the crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism, Kyari contended that going by the volume of oil stolen daily and the brazenness with which the perpetrators operate, crude oil theft was the most humongous and virulent economic crime in Nigeria that must attract the attention of the EFCC.

He said: “Today, we have disconnected up to 4,846 illegal pipes connected to our pipelines, that is out of 5,543 such illegal connection points. That means there are a vast number of such connections that we have not removed.

“As we continue to do our best to deepen transparency and stamp out corruption from the system, there is one big challenge that you will need to help us with, Mr Chairman. That challenge is crude theft. It fits into everything you have said – the people, the asset, the opportunity and the absence of deterrence.

“I believe, personally, that the very purpose of your commission is to curtail economic crimes, and there is no bigger economic crime of this scale anywhere else than what is happening in this area.”

On corruption within the system, Kyari explained that by law, NNPC Ltd is required to maintain high ethical standards and has put in place structures and measures to curb discretionary actions which fuel corruption, stressing that most processes in the company have been fully automated to discourage arbitrary actions.

In his presentation, the Executive Chairman of EFCC, Mr Ola Olukoyede, expressed satisfaction with NNPC Ltd’s commitment to issues of ethics and code of conduct.

He, however, challenged the management to ensure that the codes of ethics and regulations are complemented with monitoring and enforcement to enhance deterrence.