By Godwin Okoro (Abuja), with agency report
The House of Representatives yesterday resolved to probe circumstances that led to the setting ablaze of an oil vessel allegedly involved in oil theft by security operatives.

This followed the adoption of a motion on urgent national importance moved by Onofiok Luke (PDP-Akwa-Ibom) at the plenary session in Abuja.

The motion was titled, “Urgent need to investigate circumstances of the setting ablaze of oil vessel allegedly involved in oil theft by security operatives.”

Officers of the Nigerian Navy in Delta State had on Monday destroyed an illegal oil bunkering vessel arrested with stolen crude oil aboard Niger Delta creeks.

Operatives of the newly-contracted private oil pipeline surveillance team, Tantita Security Services, had effected the vessel’s arrest alongside its seven-member crew, on October 6, 2022, on the creeks of Escravos, whilst crude oil was being loaded illegally into the ship.

However, speaking on the floor of the Green Chambers yesterday, Luke submitted that oil theft was a problem that had existed for a long time in the Niger Delta and that it had caused serious environmental degradation in the region.

He said that it had equally negatively impacted the revenue generation of Nigeria causing the country to lose 470, 000 barrels of crude oil per day amounting to 700 million dollars monthly.

He said that was the estimate by the NNPC and that there had been several news reports that high-powered technology was applied in the theft of crude oil.

Britain to send anti-aircraft missiles to help Ukraine defend skies

He cited the recently-discovered four-kilometre illegal pipeline stretching from the Forcados oil terminal into the sea with as much as 200 barrels of crude oil reported to have been stolen daily since 2014.

According to him, the responsiveness of the private security firm, Tantita Security Services in curbing oil theft led to the apprehending of an illegal oil bunkering vessel and handing the same to a security agency.

*Queries why evidence for the prosecution of perpetrators was destroyed by operatives

Luke expressed worry about the reported destruction of the said vessel by security operatives instead of using the same as evidence for prosecution purposes.

The House resolved to urgently investigate the destruction of the vessel allegedly by security operatives instead of preserving it as court evidence.