Page 6 - DMEA Week 38 2022

DMEA SECURITY & POLICY DMEA

Nigerian officials visited the site of a spill from a damaged oil pipeline in March (Photo: Twitter/@HETimipre Sylva)

Nigerian House, Senate leaders issue

urgent calls for action against oil theft

AFRICA THE leaders of both houses of Nigeria’s Par- work to ensure that everything is done to curtail
liament have made strong statements about this theft.”
the need to curb oil pipeline theft and sabo- Speaking on the same day, Femi Gbajabiamila,
tage, warning that the country may suffer dire the speaker of the House of Representatives,
consequences if the problem is not properly noted that theft had pushed Nigerian oil output
addressed. down to a historic low level below 1mn barrels
Ahmad Lawan, the president of the Senate, per day (bpd). The figure of “972,394 bpd for
said on September 21 that prompt action was August is the lowest we have recorded in the last
necessary to prevent lasting harm to Nigeria’s two decades,” he told legislators during his own
economy. welcome speech.
During a speech welcoming legislators back Oil theft prevents the government from
to Abuja after a two-month recess, he stressed fulfilling its mission, Gbajabiamila said. “The
that oil theft was warping Nigeria’s economy perpetrators of this brazen heist threaten our
and restricting the flow of revenue to the federal ability to serve the Nigerian people and meet
budget. the demands of governance and nation-build-
“The economy of our country is still chal- ing. Their actions constitute treason against our
lenged. The Senate, working with the House of country, for which they must be held accounta-
Representatives and the executive, needs to con- ble,” Gbajabiamila commented.
tinually seek better responses to the economic He also suggested that new enforcement
situation,” he declared.” [The] generation and mechanisms were needed to prevent and deter
collection of revenues have remained major pipeline theft and sabotage, since existing pol-
challenges. Also, the massive loss of revenue icies had not borne satisfactory results. “There
through oil theft is debilitating and threatening are mechanisms in place to prevent these sorts
to throw the economy into a coma.” of bad actors, and the government spends sig-
Lawan continued: “Revelations about the nificant amounts of money each year to protect
scale of oil theft show that, until the government oil and gas resources in the country. Evidently,
takes decisive actions, Nigeria could soon lose these existing arrangements do not suffice,”
any revenue from that sector. We must therefore Gbajabiamila remarked. ™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 38 22•September•2022