Delta has ‘substantial evidence’ on 40% reduction in oil theft – Lawmaker

The Delta State Government has substantial evidence to back its claim that there has been a 40 per cent reduction in the volume of crude oil stolen in the Niger Delta region.
Hon. Martin Okonta, a member of the state House of Assembly and former speaker, made this known on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.
Okonta’s remarks came on the heels of the recent pronouncement by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State that the volume of stolen oil has decreased from 100,000 barrels to 40,000 barrels per day.
Okonta said: “The governor is an Itsekiri man who is very familiar with the terrain.
“The issue of what the governor had said about oil theft is nothing but the truth because a lot of the infrastructure there was created by him.
“There is a lot of monitoring and intelligence reports to the state executive and security board and they have detailed analysis of what is happening.”
The lawmaker, who challenged the international community to assist Nigeria in the fight against oil theft, said that members of the community were part of those involved in the oil theft.
Okonta said: “They bring the infrastructure, the barge and equipment into our shores.
“We should be able to have information on who is in our territorial waters and I do not rule out the involvement of some government agencies in the greed to acquire wealth from stolen crude oil.”
Okonto called on the Federal Government to “empower” the youth in the oil producing communities to enable them provide security agencies valid information to curb illegal oil bunkering.
He said that the Federal Government was not paying adequate attention to the development of the area that could engage the youth in productive activities, adding that the refinery in the area should be enhanced.
He added: “The Federal Government should also have a surveillance aircraft that can monitor activities in the high sea because when it is dark nobody knows what is happening in the country’s territorial waters.
“So, we need a surveillance team that can monitor our waters properly because illegal oil bunkering is not for laymen.
“It is an activity with a level of sophistication.”
Okonta expressed concern that the issue of the quantity of crude oil being exported had remained a major challenge to the country.
“What is the quantity of oil being taken away from this country?” he asked, adding: “If you ask the NNPC (Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation), CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) or any other person, there is divergent opinion because so many people or organisations are involved.
“The Inland Revenue is involved, there are other profit centres and because a lot of people are involved, it is difficult to have adequate data.”