THE Federal Government has urged the United
Kingdom and other countries to help Nigeria curtail the growing
incidence of crude oil theft in the country by rejecting stolen Nigerian crude destined for their refineries, calling such crude “oil crude.”
Speaking at the Chatham House in London on Thursday on ‘Nigerian
Defence Priorities: Domestic Stability for Regional Security’, the
Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada likened Nigerian
stolen crude to the Liberian and Sierra Leonean blood diamond, and
demanded the confiscation of assets and property of foreign vessel
owners and businessmen involved in such illicit transactions.
She
said crude oil theft constitutes a serious threat to Nigeria domestic
economic stability and revenue projections, saying that most of the
vessels involved in crude oil theft and illegal oil bunkering are often
owned by foreigners and foreign entities.
The minister expressed
Nigeria’s position that countries that receive such stolen crude
encourage the crime, as there would be no market for the oil thieves if
some countries’ refineries would patronise only crude obtained
legitimately.
She said that on the part of Nigeria, the Joint Task
Force and the Nigerian Navy would continue to crack down on oil thieves
and their collaborators through arrests, prosecution and destruction of
illegal refineries.
On terrorism, Erelu Obada said it was in
response to the threats posed by terrorists that government declared a
state of emergency in three north-eastern states of Borno, Yobe and
Adamawa, adding that in view of multilateral relations that Nigeria
enjoys with its neighbours, there would be no safe haven for Boko Haram
and their apologists.
She said,“The Armed Forces and other security
agencies are currently engaged in multi-agency counter-terrorism
operations in the three states mentioned, with a view to bringing the
security situation under control.
“The threats confronting Nigeria
can be summarised as internal and external. Some internal threats
include fragilities, illegal trafficking, piracy, unreported and
unregulated fishing, Islamic fundamentalism, oil theft, pipeline
vandalism as well as terrorism. Worthy of note is the reality that many
of the crimes and illegalities are often trans-national in nature.”
The minister said the Nigerian president had deployed a long-term
strategy meant to reduce opportunities for religions radicalism. “An
important component of this strategy is the establishment of 400 schools
for Almajiris, which provide Quaranic studies with English, Mathematics
and Science etc.
“State governments and the national leadership
of the Moslem Ummah in Nigeria are working hard to reduce radicalism. On
the economic front, our government is improving support to the
agriculture and mining sectors to diversify the economy, as well as the
rehabilitation of the railways, amongst other transformation programmes,
to provide employment opportunities to the teeming youth population in
Nigeria.”
Source: Tribune
