The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has accused government representatives, religious figures, security agencies, and even some employees of stealing the country’s crude oil.
Mele Kyari, chief executive officer of the NNPC Group, said that the threat affects every person in society while speaking during the 49th session of the weekly ministerial meeting at the State House in Abuja.
He said that a network of vandals had been at work wherever the stolen goods were discovered, which were primarily in churches and mosques.
“When a fire outbreak happened in one of our pipelines, we discovered that some of the pipelines were actually connected to individuals’ homes. And not only that, and with all sensitivity to our religious beliefs, you know, some of the pipelines and some of the products that we found, are actually in churches and in mosques,” Kyari said.
“That means that everybody is involved. There is no way you will take products, bring them in trucks in populated neighborhoods, load them, and leave without everybody else knowing about it. Everybody includes members of the community, members of the religious leaders and also and most likely government officials of all natures, including security agencies personnel.
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“They are everywhere. And I’ve seen this even in the Niger Delta. There’s no way you would deliver a volume and lose up to 30 percent and you will continue to put those products in this line.”
The head of NNPC said that as a result of vandals’ actions, the nation’s entire network of pipelines for the delivery of petroleum products has been shut down.
The Group CEO declared that a national reserve firm would be founded to handle the pipelines on a commercial basis and effectively utilize them for the delivery of goods around the nation in order to further combat the threat.
He asserts that although it has been extremely challenging to handle crude oil theft, which has led to the discovery of 295 illegal connections and made it impossible for oil firms to function effectively, they are not hopeless.
He claimed that the nation’s energy poverty would be eliminated if the gas infrastructure was completely embraced.
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