By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The Senate has said it had reached out to international experts with the capacity to track illegal vessels being used to steal Nigeria’s crude oil.
Senator Ned Nwoko (APC Delta North), Chairman of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Crude Oil Theft, disclosed this yesterday.
He spoke when he received executives of the HOSTCON Youth Council of Nigeria led by their President, Fiawei Emmanuel Pathfinder, in his office.
Nwoko said his Committee would soon organise a public hearing comprising all oil and gas sector stakeholders.
He said policymakers, major industry players, security agencies, traditional institutions, and youth groups across the region would meet to discuss ways to address the scourge.
He said, “I can tell you straight away that we have been able to engage some international experts who have the capacity to trace the movement of vessels, both legal and illegal.
“They (experts) will also be able to trace every payment attached to each vessel.
“They will trace them to wherever they are. It could be in New York. It could be in Marbella in Spain. It doesn’t matter where. We have gotten those who can help us. First, to retrieve the money that arose from stolen crude.
“And also to make sure that we curtail or minimize or stop, if possible, the instances of crude oil being stolen.
“There are many stakeholders. So, we are actually about to commence a public hearing. You will see the advert in the papers and other videos next week. Inviting all the stakeholders.
“Stakeholders from the military to the police, to the International Oil Companies, all of them, including the regulators, the NNPC, all of them and the shipping companies, the NIMASA, and agencies like that. They will all be here.”
“We are not leaving behind the host communities. You will all be there. So I like your second letter, which you didn’t read.
He described his new responsibility as a critical national assignment and that his panel would not witch-hunt anybody but would track all those who are involved in the illegal lifting of the nation’s crude oil.
Nwoko also said he got the assurances of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, that no sacred cows should be spared in the course of the assignment.
Nwoko said, “This is a critical national assignment. I understand the problems that we’re trying to solve. And I can assure you that we will succeed wildly with your support and the support of all the other stakeholders.
“I’m aware of the communities’ problems over time. But you know, if everything were to work out well, the compensation or payments that host communities are meant to get would be more if there’s more crude production.
“The more production we have, the more you people will be taken care of. I know that there are other issues with when the payments are made or how they are made. But these are all part of what we’ll address.
“If the good communities are not protected and provided for, then there’s no point in abusing the people.”
He also pledged that his Committee would investigate organizing and reforming local crude oil refining, as is being done in other civilized societies worldwide.
“We have agreed to have some lasting solutions where those who have the skill to refine crudely are given some support.
“What kind of support am I talking about? I’ve been to many countries in the world. I’ve been to many. Almost everywhere.
“I have been to countries where they have small refineries. Almost more minor than the so-called modular refineries.
“The government pays for them to be established, and then they employ the youths. Many abandoned oil wells are not economically viable for the big IOCs.
“They can build those small refineries around them and some other places. But governments will make sure they provide crude for refining. And the whole idea is to bring these young men and women into the formal economy.
“If we can do that, and get them away from damaging pipelines, away from damaging the environment, away from being hunted and killed by the military, we would have done a lot if we can resettle them.
“So part of our work is to find a lasting solution for all these young brothers and sisters and see how we can help them to settle them. And it is not impossible.
“I have seen it happen in other countries. And so we can do it here. I just thought I should lead you to understand that we are not after our people who are desperately trying to survive.
“Unfortunately, they are being targeted by the security forces. Even so much so that when they find them, instead of finding a way to mop up whatever they have, they bomb them and destroy them. In the process, they damaged the economy and the environment for a long time.
“When the Senate President called me to give me this assignment, I asked him to do so in the presence of other senators. I said, please tell me. Are you involved so that I know what to do?
“He ((Akpabio) said, no, no, he’s not involved. You know? So we’re also going to meet with the President. We’ll meet him with the security agencies. The Chief of Defence Staff and the National Security Adviser (NSA). So, everybody must come clean.
“This is not the normal investigation that will be done haphazardly. I can assure you,” he pledged.
Pathfinder, who led the HOSTCON Youth Council of Nigeria to the Senate, pledged to mobilize youths across the region to provide helpful information enabling the Nwoko-led panel to succeed in its assignment.
The group also seized the occasion to honor the Senator with its highest award, the ‘Credence of Honour.’
Pathfinder said, “We have unanimously agreed to make you the Patron of Host Communities Producing Oil Gas and Pipeline Impacted States Youth Council of Nigeria, HOSTCON YOUTH COUNCIL OF NIGERIA, because we believe in you that the narrative will change in our host communities and pipeline impacted communities as well.”
