Nigeria lost over 619.7 million barrels of oil valued at $46.16 billion to various forms of theft between 2007 and 2020, according to the Nigeria Extractive Industries Initiative (NEITI).
The stolen amount translates to N35.51 trillion, at N769.24/dollar as of Aug 10, 2023.
Nigeria is the 10th largest oil producer in the world and the 3rd in Africa, with an oil reserve of 37.1 billion barrels and an estimated 206.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserve as of January 2023.
Despite the abundance of natural minerals as this, the country remains underdeveloped, with 133 million of the over 200 population living in multidimensional poverty.
Part of the developmental challenges that have continued to haunt the country is oil theft and sabotage, militant attacks on pipelines vandalism and fire outbreaks in the oil communities. These not only sucked up its economy but reduced the country’s developmental potential.
Oil was first discovered in Nigeria in commercial quantity in 1956 in Oloibiri—now Bayelsa State. Oil was subsequently discovered in other states of the country but Nigeria gets a larger percentage of its oil in the Niger Delta region.
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The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern states, including Cross River, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, River, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom and Ondo states. The oil-rich region accounts for over 70% of the country’s foreign revenue.
Oil thieves illegally tap into pipelines that transport oil from oil wells to the terminal and cart away the country’s fortune to enrich themselves while a larger percentage of the population wallows in abject poverty.
Apart from the economic losses of oil theft, there are accompanying environmental hazards.
During illegal oil mining, bunkering or oil vandalism, perpetrators deploy any means to access pipelines and oil wells to tap into oil which causes oil spills that flow into rivers and farmlands, degrade the natural ecosystem and disrupt the lives of people in the surrounding community.
Oil spills, according to the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), are mostly caused by either oil theft and sabotage or operational issues.
In 2022, the cases of oil spillage by reported causes totalled 572, out of which 480 were as a result of oil theft and sabotage and 92 by operational issues.
The volume of oil spill ascribed to sabotage is 16,135 barrels of oil, and the spillage of about 2,599 barrels were caused by operational issues.
Though the volume of the oil spilt ranges from major, medium and minor spills, a significant amount of them spilt into the open sea, the inland waters and some spilt on land.
When in contact with farmland, an oil spill reduces soil fertility. It smothered trees and food crops, destroying them or reducing their yield.
A report by the National Library of Medicine on the health implication of oil spills in the Niger Delta asserted that the spills contaminated the surface water, groundwater, ambient air, and crops with hydrocarbons, including carcinogens like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and benzo (a) pyrene, naturally occurring radioactive materials, and trace metals that were further bio-accumulated in some food crops.
These chemical exposures are detrimental to human health and could cause acute health conditions. Also, the induced effect is food insecurity, as the affected community is left with little or no food to feed on and diminished purchasing power.
This is the reality of the residents of Fantou community in Bayelsa state who live with oil spillage deteriorating their environment since 2019.
Though the case was caused by a leaking pipeline operated by Agip Oil Company and attributed to operational issues, the dilemma just depicts the ordeal people who live in the oil-producing communities experience almost every time.
There are different “Fantou communities” like this across the oil-producing states who constantly face this horrible situation.
Despite several government efforts to halt oil theft in both the upstream and downstream petroleum sectors, the menace remains active and continues to hamper Nigeria’s fiscal stability and economic growth.
Recently, a suspected Cameroon-bound vessel loaded with oil was intercepted by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) through a private security company —Tantitta Security Services.
The vessel, MT TURA II (IMO number: 6620462), was traced to a Nigerian registered company —Holab Maritime Services Limited. According to the report, the vessel has been apprehended prior but mysteriously escaped, after which it changed it from Ali-Riza-Bey to evade capture.
As the norms prescribed, the vessel, after apprehension, was set ablaze and destroyed to serve as a deterrent for other saboteurs whose sole source of wealth is stealing from the nation’s resources.
As we continue to strive towards a theft-free sector in the oil industry, the government should intensify its efforts in the fight to ensure that all illegal activities are rewarded accordingly and that necessary modifications are made to extant laws and regulations in the sector that specifically address the menace.
Funmilayo is a Research Analyst at Dataphyte, where she utilises data to craft engaging narratives about government policies and programs and their impact on the public.
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