Seriake DicksonFormer governor of Bayelsa State and serving Senator, Seriake Dickson, has accused top people residing in Lagos and Abuja as masterminds of the oil theft on the Niger Delta soil.
Dickson, who is a Senator representing Bayelsa West in the National Assembly made this revelation when he appeared on “Inside Sources” with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme which was aired on Channels Television on Friday.
Senator Dickson criticized the systemic failure and lack of national values that allow for the exploitation of Nigeria’s oil resources for personal gain.
He went on to say that the official system and oil firms profit from oil theft in the Niger Delta, and he lamented the lack of national values that leads people to exploit the country’s resources for personal gain.
Dickson said, “Why should a country like Nigeria that has been producing oil, exporting oil for the past 70 years not have a scientific way of metering, recording what leaves, what is pumped, what is sold and what is not sold? And it’s deliberate.
“It’s not a Niger Delta thing; it’s just happening there and it is unfortunate that it has destroyed communities because there is too much illegal money, illegal arms, illicit drugs and it has fueled cultism because people want to get the loyalties of young people to be able to hold territories where oil facilities are. They need weapons and young men that are always high on drugs. You think a man who slaughters and cuts off a man’s head and dismember him is normal? So, those are people who are actively on drugs.
“People from Abuja and Lagos are the masterminds and the official system is not ignorant and not innocent. The official security system, the official oil system, the official federal system, all of it in its entirety. It’s a criminal, powerful system.”
He stated that, just as the world came together to condemn stolen blood diamonds, a worldwide consensus should emerge to force the international community to reject stolen crude oil from Nigeria.
Dickson, therefore, urged authorities at all levels to have great political resolve in order to put an end to the dangerous trend of oil theft.
Oil theft has become a malignant cancer in Nigeria for years with unimaginable volumes of oil being lifted by some cabals in the oil sector. In 2022, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited had said it uncovered an illegal oil connection operated for nine years with about 600,000 barrels per day of oil lost in the same period.
About 108,000 barrels of crude are reportedly stolen daily in Nigeria. The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries which Nigeria is a member estimates that the country lost 2.3 million barrels monthly, amounting to over $1 billion every three months.
Security agents had made some arrests and destroyed vessels used for crude oil theft off the Niger Delta creeks but experts believed that the menace which have both robbed the nation financially and environmentally would become a thing of the past when the government stamp out official complicity and bunkering, ensure transparency and accountability.
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