Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja and Adewale Sanyaolu

A 13-man National Executive Council (NEC) sub-committee chaired by Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, mandated to investigate the impact of the attacks on oil installations in the creeks of the Niger Delta has recommended a special court to try oil thieves

This was even as the committee disclosed that Nigeria lost about $1.3 billion worth of crude oil to theft and pipeline vandalism in the first quarter of this year.

The committee warned warned that if the situation was not arrested immediately, the losses could surge to as much as $2.7 billion by the end of the year.

Obaseki said the slow and inadequate prosecution of thieves despite numerous arrests and seizures have continued to encourage the menace.

He lamented that the absence of petroleum products in filling stations in most of the oil producing communities around the Niger Delta make them resort to illegal bunkering and illegal refineries.

Obaseki, however, recommended that there was need to restructure the maintenance and ownership of oil pipelines as a way of tackling the perpetrators of crude and other products theft.

“There should be special courts to trial offenders and also have a special legal task force to coordinate the prosecution of arrested offenders as well as trained special judges to handle cases of oil theft.”

Given a further breakdown of the revenue loss recorded in the first half of the year, Obaseki said the Nembe creek trunk-line lost 9.2 million barrel, the Trans-Niger pipeline 8.6 million barrel, the Trans-Focadoes Pipeline 3.9 million barrel  and the Trans-Escravos pipeline 877, 000 barrel.

The adhoc committee reported that the governance structure of the pipeline is such today that no one is held accountable whenever there are bridges and when these losses occur.

Commenting, Director General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Muda Yusuf, said the issue of oil theft and pipeline vandalism must be addressed holistically for it to have the desired impact.

He said cases that are criminal in nature must be dealt with according to law and in a speedy way be it through special courts or any other means in order to have speedy dispensation of justice in order for it to serve as a deterrent to others.

He said addressing such challenges would help ameliorate the tendencies of youths to perpetrate crime.

He advised that oil producing companies and government should build an inclusive system that will enable host communities see themselves as stakeholders in the oil and gas investments in the various locations where such facilities exist.

He maintained that if oil companies integrated host communities into their operations, they would help police some of the critical national assets.

The LCCI DG warned that the impact of the revenue loss to the economy is mindboggling, warning that stakeholders must not allow the development to degenerate into impunity.

Executive Secretary of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr. Clement Isong, said the call was a welcome development but that the issue of oil theft and pipeline vandalism is a sub-set of the larger problem of criminality in Nigeria, which is as a result of the some of the security challenges confronting the country.

He said there should be immediate term and immediate solutions by asking law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute offenders.