Nigeria loses $4m daily to oil theft, says NSA… 

A high-powered team dispatched by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to assess crude oil theft in the Niger Delta has uncovered illegal connections where Nigeria loses the product worth million of dollars monthly in Abia State.

The team also carried out an aerial assessment of nine other Niger Delta oil-producing communities –   Bille, Azuzuama, Ahoada, Rumuekepe Ebocha, Abacheke, Egbema, Ohaji, and Koko communities of Abia, Rivers, Bayelsa, Imo and Delta states.

Defence Minister Muhammed Badaru told reporters after a closed-door meeting with  Rivers State Governor  Similaye Fubara in Port Harcourt that the discovery was made on Saturday.

Service chiefs, Ministers of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil),  Heineken Lokpobiri; and  Gas,  Ekperipe Ekpo;  National Security Adviser   Nuhu Ribadu, and the Group Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited(NPCL) Mele Kyari are members of the delegation. 

Also in the team are Commander of “Operation Delta Safe’’  Olusegun Ferreira, operatives of security agencies and chief executive officers of regulatory agencies in the oil and gas sector.

The delegation noted that clandestine refineries, illegal bunkering operations and environmental devastation collectively translated into severe economic losses for the nation.

“We are ready to do whatever it takes for a peaceful Niger Delta, give peace a chance, cease and desist crude from oil theft and economic sabotage,” Badaru said.

Ribadu, who led the team, said that  Nigeria still loses 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily in spite of efforts to curb the trend.

The NSA called for collaborative efforts by security agencies and host communities to end illegal oil activities in the Niger Delta.