Oil theft in Nigeria: fake outrage of its citizenry

The background

Oil theft, Nigeria: In a land, not far, adjacent to a great river called the Niger were several Kingdoms, Emirates and chiefdoms. In 1914, the people and the lands coalesced. Not long afterwards, crude oil was discovered deep beneath the soils of the southern mash lands of the Niger delta. True, this was a great discovery and a great resource, and the success of the country seemed guaranteed. But a significant few had other ideas. Yes, they had theft on their mind, massive oil theft.

Do you remember the African folktale about the tortoise and the dog? There was famine in the animal kingdom and the animals signed an unusual agreement. The oil theft story continues very much like the folktale. The dog outsmarted the rest of the animals by eating his cake and having it. When he was found out, he cut the rope to the sky, where he had hidden his source of luxury and abundance, sending his famished fellow animals crashing down to earth! Our forebears told and retold this story – perhaps, they foretold the stealing of our commonwealth. Like the dog in the story, a few people in our society have kept a huge part of our collective patrimony for themselves. They live in opulence and luxury while the rest of the peoples lament and wallow in desperate poverty.

Robbers as gate keepers?

Diezani Allison-Madueke was Minister of petroleum from 2010 through to 2015 and while at the helm she worked with one Andrew Yakubu, the NNPC (Nigeria’s National Oil Company) Group Managing Director aka CEO. Now, what does these two former top dogs in our oil sector have in common? Yes, you guessed right – they have been caught (after leaving office) with huge amounts of monies. Andrew Yakubu stashed away about 10 million dollars in a non-descript building in one of the poorest neighborhoods. He does have a wicked sense of humour, this act adds insult to the injury of the long-suffering peoples of Nigeria.

That is not all. The Minister allegedly owns the choicest properties in exclusive parts of town, at home and abroad. Jaw dropping luxurious items worth about $40 million were recently forfeited to the Federal Government, the recovered items include hundreds of rings, earrings, wristwatches, and necklaces. Unfortunately, more is being unearthed … cars, customized gold iPhone, the list is truly endless! Could oil theft be the source of wealth of these individuals? We may never know.

Robin Hood, or no?

A man named Government Ekpemupolo also known as Tompolo, was once on the most wanted list of the Federal Government of Nigeria. He allegedly blew up oil pipelines all over the Niger Delta region, killed soldiers and was responsible for a N34 billion defrauding of the Nigerian government agency. However, in a stunning turnaround, he recently won a Federal Government contract worth $100 million a year. Apparently, the government needs his help to help stop the huge leak and brazen oil theft in Nigeria’s oil industry.

Tompolo has over the last few weeks made staggering discoveries of illegal pipelines, pirate ships with stolen oil and oil platforms used by oil thieves to steal Nigeria’s oil. Tompolo’s motivation for the helping Nigeria stop the oil theft and recover stolen wealth is difficult to comprehend. He was involved in destroying the same pipelines he is now protecting. He contributed massively to the environmental damage in the region. Nonetheless, he now says his recent activities is about protecting the environment and love of his people – Gbaramatu Kingdom, and of course the $100 million is an important stimulus.  

Citizenry as cheer leaders

There are over two hundred and fifty million Nigerians. The largest population of black Africans anywhere on earth. How could the citizens of a country be bystanders to brazen robbery of its commonwealth? Why do they not care? For instance, the monies allegedly stolen from Nigeria between independence (1960) and the beginning of the current republic (1999) is an estimated $400 billion. That is truly an astronomical amount of money if there ever was one! If you were to put the bills end-to-end, it would make 75 round trips to the moon!

So why do Nigerians not care? Are they enablers? Or pretenders who would actively participate in the theft if given an opportunity? Do Nigerians secretly want the status quo to remain? Are they simply fatigued by the long-running issue that they simply roll over with every new episode of corruption and stealing? A lot of questions – whatever it is, they must accept that they are part of the problem. A country is a reflection of its citizenry.

Finally, it was current President Muhammadu Buhari who famously said – “if Nigeria does not kill corruption, then corruption will kill Nigeria”. Unfortunately, it appears that his rhetoric has fallen flat. His efforts (if there were any) have hardly made any dent on our perennial challenge. The current revelation of massive oil theft in Nigeria under his watch is more than enough evidence of that.