The Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Plc, Mr Mutiu Sumonu, yesterday disclosed that Nigeria was losing 5 billion USD (equivalent N780bn) annually to oil bunkering in the Niger Delta. �
Sumonu spoke at the public hearing on the upsurge of illegal oil bunkering activities in Nigeria?s coastal region organised by the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) and Navy.�
He said the over 150,000 barrels of crude oil was being stolen every day by oil thieves, while the company lost 100 barrels daily between 2003 and 2004.
?This huge amount of money is ending up in private pockets. It has enormous security implication because foreign ships are usually used to ferry stolen oil from Nigeria,? Sumonu said.
He said oil bunkering has now taken a new dimension as ?it is a highly syndicated operation and is done with connivance with some unscrupulous people.?
Speaking earlier, Speaker of the House of Representatives,� Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, said that activities of oil thieves constituted security risks and environmental degradation to the country.
For his part, Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ade Abolurin, disclosed that his men have arrested and prosecuted 300 Nigerians and 15 Ghanians over oil bunkering.
Lead chairman Rep. Muraina Ajibola (PDP, Oyo) had earlier refused to take presentations from representatives of the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Chief of Naval Staff insisting they must appear in person. Also, the ministers of Petroleum Resources. Mrs. Diezeni Alison-Madueke and her Environment counterpart, Hajiya Hadiza Mailafiya, were absent at the hearing.
President Goodluck Jonathan had on Sunday during a media chat described Nigeria as the only country in the world where crude oil is stolen at an alarming rate.
Conservation Sam Allardyce Communities Floyd Mayweather US supreme court Paul Myners
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento