The Nigerian Navy has charged 13 Officers before a General Court Martial at the Western Naval Command headquarters in Lagos for offenses ranging from conspiring with crude oil thieves to pipeline vandalism and other maritime infractions, all in furtherance of its zero tolerance for corruption policy.
According to sources, some of the officers who were found guilty by the Naval Court Martial colluded with members of various oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta, including traditional leaders, to run allegedly illegal refineries using stolen crude oil.
A senior officer said “The Navy has routinely warned its personnel to desist from any act of involvement or compromise with oil thieves. As a matter of fact, to demonstrate the zero tolerance of the Navy for COT (Crude Oil Theft), some officers who at a time were alleged to be complicit in COT are presently facing charges before a court martial”.
But since April of this year, Naval Forces working to clean up the nation’s maritime domain of criminal activity have successfully thwarted oil theft, illegal oil bunkering, pipeline vandalism, and theft of crude oil and its products totaling more than Twenty-Five Billion Naira (N25,000,000).
In this regard, the Navy has destroyed 278 illegal refinery sits, detained a total of 85 suspects, impounded 72 illegal boats, 23 illegal vehicles, and 148 illegal refinery storage tanks, recovered 41 outboard motors and 35 pumping machines, and destroyed 127 illegal refinery ovens, 102 illegal refinery large pits, and 148 illegal refinery storage tanks.
The Navy retrieved 23.11 million (110,102.59 liters) of AGO, 39.66 million liters of crude oil (230,882 barrels), 649. 775.38 liters of DPK, 345,000.49 liters of PMS, 380,000 liters of sludge, and 66.000 liters of LPFO, according to Commodore AO Ayo-Vaughan, Director of Naval Information.
Further on the fight against oil theft, Commodore Ayo-Vaughan stated that on April 1, 2022, “Operation Dakatar Da Barawo” (OPDDB), which stands for “Stop the Thief” in Hausa, was launched by the Nigerian Navy in collaboration with the NNPC. The goal of the operation is to reduce COT and related offenses.
“The ongoing OPDDB has seen the mobilization of the entire Nigerian Navy Operations Bases and Forward Operating Bases, Ships, helicopters, personnel including the maritime surveillance infrastructure of the Navy in collaboration with sister Services and other security agencies in the Niger Delta with the generous logistical support of NNPC.
“The entire region has indeed felt the impact of OPDDB because most oil thieves have been put out of business, the carbon soot that was predominant in some places due to the operation of Illegal refineries has disappeared and innocent citizens have been saved from the health dangers/hazards the fumes/soot posed to them.
“Navy personnel in the Niger Delta creeks have repeatedly raided these IRS to ensure they remain inactive, unproductive, and moribund.
“At the strategic level there are regular and fruitful exchanges, engagements and meetings between the leadership of the navy and that of NNPC to continually reappraise, update and situate the operation so as to fashion out new strategies to curb the menace.
“The primary thrust and major effort of the navy is the ongoing fight against COT and a lot of resources, equipment and logistics are being factored into the operation to sustain the effort.
He remarked, “Oil theft happens when the crude oil is siphoned from oil wells or from pipelines that have been destroyed onto barges or wooden boats intended for ships at sea or the illegal refineries. This is different from oil losses, which are generally implied by economy monitors.
“The loss on the other hand occurs when a pipeline is shut down, for example the Trans-Niger Pipeline. The barrels of oil that would have been transported for sale cannot be, hence it is a loss to the NNPC.
He said, “Claims of theft of 108,000 barrels of crude oil for instance implies that on a daily basis 22 x 5,000 barrel (5 tonne) capacity barge would be required by oil thieves to convey the consignment through the creeks to the high sea for sale to ships.
“In a month therefore, about 660 barges will be required to convey the acclaimed quantity of stolen crude to sea.
“This is impossible because such a mass movement of barges is impossible giving the operation and daily patrols of the Nigerian Navy.
“Furthermore, crude oil losses are attributed to Metering errors and Shut-In as explained by NNPC. Operators of IRS in the Niger Delta source crude oil mainly from unused and unsealed oil wells and vandalized pipelines to which illegal connections are made to siphon oil.
Commodore Ayo-Vaughan reiterated that the Nigerian Navy has not reneged to appeal to political, traditional and opinion leaders in the region to educate the people to note the environmental, economic and health hazards the crime of COT and IRS pose to the operators, people and entire region, hence the need to dissuade the oil thieves from the crime.”
