Nigerian banker and leading entrepreneur, Tony Elumelu, has challenged the Federal Government and security agencies to tell Nigerians the people behind the stealing of the nation’s crude oil, especially the ones being moved on territorial waters through vessels.
While expressing his dislike for oil theft, Elumelu stressed that the menace is part of the reasons international oil companies in Nigeria are divesting.
The Chairman of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) made this known in an interview published by the Financial Times on Friday, August 9, 2024.
He recalled a first-hand discovery on why international oil companies were partly divesting from onshore assets after criminal gangs began stealing crude from his pipelines.
Pulse reports that, at the height of oil theft activities that forced his company to shut down production in 2022, Elumelu took to social media to express frustrations over the development.
“How can we be losing over 95 per cent of oil production to thieves? Look at the Bonny Terminal which should be receiving over 200,000 barrels of crude oil daily, instead, it receives less than 3,000 barrels, leading the operator Shell to declare force majeure. The reason Nigeria is unable to meet its OPEC production quota is not because of low investment but because of theft, pure and simple!
“Meanwhile, oil-producing countries are smiling as their foreign reserve is rising. What is Nigeria’s problem? We need to hold our leaders more accountable!” he posted on X.
Elumelu remains optimistic
In the Friday interview, the successful entrepreneur expressed optimism for the sector even though he stated that oil thieves still take away 18% of crude from his field.
“42,000 barrels of crude pumped out daily. Theft still takes away about 18 per cent of production,” he said.
Meanwhile, when asked about the people behind the theft, Elumelu said the government and security agencies are best positioned to know.
“This is oil theft, we’re not talking about stealing a bottle of Coke you can put in your pocket. The government should know, they should tell us. Look at America — Donald Trump was shot at and quickly they knew the background of who shot him. Our security agencies should tell us who is stealing our oil. You bring vessels to our territorial waters and we don’t,” he stated.
