They Are Stealing Our Oil Again
Lest anyone gets riled up about the title of my article, my hometown, along the banks of Imo River in south-eastern Nigeria, is an oil producing community. It is one of several oil producing communities in the area and the wider Niger Delta that has suffered environmental degradation in recent weeks from the illicit activities of oil thieves.
According to Hon. Daniel Reyenieju, representing the Warri Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, who brought this to global attention recently, the Imo River oil field, which straddles Abia and Rivers States, is being forced to shut down completely because of the apprehension and encroachment of illegal bunkering into oil and gas facilities in the area.
“There are five flow stations, a gas compression, and several kilometers of pipelines in this area alone, and my worry is that unless urgent steps are taken, the fear of possible outbreak of fire cannot be ruled out. We need to protect our economy and safeguard the lives of Nigerians who work in these facilities as well as those living in these areas,” Reyenieju warned.
Beyond laying a personal claim to the crude oil produced in my community, this oil, until the Nigerian Constitution states otherwise, belongs not just to me and my people, but to 168 million Nigerians who are dependent on it for 80 percent of the country’s overall earnings and 90 percent of the country’s foreign exchange receipts.
Yet this oil is being stolen with rising frequency by faceless thieves who bore holes into the pipelines that crisscross the Niger Delta, pollute the rivers, marshlands and farmlands in the area, and live large from the damage caused our communities and their ill-gotten gains.
Not a few of us had some residual doubts about the capacity of the amnesty programme started in 2009 to bring lasting peace to the Niger Delta. It was only a matter of time before a new crop of so-called militants was going to take over from where those before them had left off. Now, our worst fears have been confirmed, as hardly a week goes by these days without Shell, Chevron, Agip or Elf announcing that they have been forced to shut down one flow station or the other because the facilities and pipelines the companies operate have been compromised by thieves.
The irony is that Hon. Reyenieju, who sponsored a motion in the House of Representatives on rising insecurity in the Niger Delta, had his motion dismissed by his colleagues. He also drew the attention of the parliament to the recent hijack of an oil service vessel and the kidnap of three expatriates on the coastal waters of the Niger Delta. The incident which occurred on Friday, November 18, was said to have involved some unidentified gunmen who seized the vessel, MV Endeavour, serving Chevron’s Agbami oil field off the coast of Bayelsa State.
Reyenieju said that the incident was the second attack on an oil supply vessel in one month and expressed concern that the attacks were coming on the heels of threats by some youths in the Niger Delta region to return to the trenches in protest over their alleged exclusion from the amnesty programme.
“These acts of militancy if not quickly checked could escalate and threaten the economic and social harmony of the region. But it is worrisome that after over 27,000 youths have been demobilised, rehabilitated and reintegrated by the amnesty programme funded with about N196 billion, the region is still witnessing incidents of militancy,” he said.
Reyenieju asked the House to constitute an ad-hoc committee to investigate the implementation of the amnesty programme to ascertain the veracity of the claims by some groups that they were being excluded from the programme and to absorb them where possible.
However, it was his final recommendation that nailed the motion, as several lawmakers rose against it, accusing its sponsor of beclouding the issues. Those who opposed the motion felt the issue of criminality in the Niger Delta must not be misconstrued as a failure of the implementation of the amnesty programme.
The feeling was that Reyeieju’s motion was shot down due to underlying vested interests. It turned out that there were at least three camps opposed to the motion. The first comprised legislators whose constituencies are beneficiaries of the amnesty programme. A second is made up of legislators who have close ties to the handlers of the amnesty programme and possibly have benefited from contracts awarded by the programme and would not want a probe of the scheme. The third comprised legislators from outside the Niger Delta who may not want the enlargement of the programme and increased budgetary allocations for its funding at the expense of other regions of the country.
Another factor that worked against the motion was the preference by its sponsor to have an ad-hoc committee investigating the amnesty programme rather than a relevant standing committee such as the House Committee on the Niger Delta. It is not a hidden fact that ad-hoc committees are more likely to be independent and objective during probes, as opposed to some standing committees that have incestuous relationships with the ministries, departments and agencies of government under their purview and often shield such agencies instead of exposing the rot in the system.
But politics aside, the resurgence of militancy, or better put, oil theft in the Niger Delta is not something that can be glossed over by the executive, its security agencies and the legislature. We all bore witness to the damage destruction of oil facilities and bunkering caused the Nigerian economy between 2008 and 2009. Not only was onshore oil production halved during the period, it drove away a lot of businesses and families from the Niger Delta who feared for their lives and property. It took late President Umaru Yar’Adua to offer amnesty to the militants in the region before some degree of normalcy was restored. But this has been short-lived.
What is required is for the executive and legislature to be alive to their responsibilities by ensuring that the Niger Delta does not implode again. Criminal youths and pirates who are taking up arms and blowing up installations, boring holes into pipelines and seizing oil vessels have to be fished out and brought to book. Beyond that, the federal government has to deploy resources to safeguarding oil installations and communities from attacks. The three tiers of government also have a responsibility to empower their people economically through development so that poverty and the propensity for crime are reduced to the barest minimum.
Obviously, the offer of a blanket pardon through the amnesty programme is not working as envisaged. What the amnesty programme has done is to breed another batch of criminals who believe that after a few months they will be demobilised, rehabilitated and reintegrated back into the society on stipends paid for by the state. But this is only a stop-gap measure and calls for a review of the programme in its entirety.
Besides, having been allocated some N196 billion from the federal budget and demobilised 27,000 ex-militants, the handlers of the amnesty programme have some explaining to do on why oil thieves are still on the rampage. The House of Representatives, therefore, owes it to the public to make the managers of the amnesty programme accountable. Of bigger importance, it must ensure that the programme is improved upon and made proactive at engaging and educating youths in the Niger Delta on the pitfalls of crime.
source: thisdaylive.com
