Nigerian billionaire businessman, Tony Elumelu, has expressed worry over the mindless stealing of the nation’s crude oil, challenging the Federal Government and security agencies to expose those behind the heinous act.
He asserted that the process of stealing crude oil is too extensively cumbersome and the logistics required is conspicuously enormous for those behind the ignoble practice not be known by the government.
Elumelu, who doubles as Chairman of Heirs Holdings made the assertion in an interview published by the Financial Times on Friday.
He called on the the Nigerian government and security operatives to tell Nigerians those who steal the country’s crude oil.
According to him, of 42,000 barrels of daily crude production, 18 percent is stolen.
“42,000 barrels of crude pumped out daily. Theft still takes away about 18 percent of production, he stated.
Asked who is behind the theft, he replied, “This is oil theft, we’re not talking about stealing a bottle of coke you can put in your pocket. The government should know, they should tell us. Look at America — Donald Trump was shot at and quickly they knew the background of who shot him. Our security agencies should tell us who is stealing our oil. You bring vessels to our territorial waters and we don’t know?”
His statement comes amid the unceasing menace of crude oil theft in Nigeria.
The scourge has put a lot of strain on the nation’s economy as the country relies heavily on crude oil production for foreign exchange, a situation that has also spurred an unprecedented depreciation of the naira as companies struggle to get forex to import critical raw materials and equipment for production and keep their businesses afloat.
Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in June 2024 said it uncovered an additional 165 illegal refineries in various locations across the Niger Delta.
The development comes amid the crude supply crisis, facing the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery.
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