The secretary of Delta state government (SSG), Mr. Ovuozorie Macauley, on wednesday said that determination is the key factor in handling crude oil theft in Nigeria.
He added that the issue of oil theft goes back to the 70s and bunkering has turned out to become an epidemic in the country.
Speaking on Channels television’s breakfast programme, Mr. Macauley said “there are different types of oil bunkers, we have the locals who steal from abandoned oil wells and sell within the country, the foreign bunkers who pump oil from a particular point through the SPDC pipelines into the Cotonu boat and take it to the baby vessel and then transfer the oil worth about 33,000 tonnes to the mother vessel that waits in the high sea”.
“This is where foreigners come in, conniving with security agencies that have been put in place to stop this criminal act”. He added
Mr. Macauley said that these security agencies are not well equipped to catch this thieves because they do not have the weapons needed, using the navy as an example, he said that the naval air crafts on ground do not have the ‘endurance’ to make trips round the water.
Politicians involved in bunkering have not been persecuted neither has government been able to punish this oil thieves, he said their punishment should serve as an example to others.
He however mentioned that the Delta state government is assisting security agencies like JTF through repair of boats and vehicles.
