16th March, 2015
By Taiwo Lawrence Adeyemi
“We are winning the war against Crude Oil Theft”, says Lt Col Ado Isa, Media Coordinator, the Joint Task Force [JTF] Operation Pulo Shield. But to some Niger Delta Affairs psychoanalysts this is simply a media gimmick!
Sailing majestically thirty nautical miles off the Bonny River Channel westwards on this this balmy cerulean quiet night on the Atlantic Ocean is MT ‘Atlantic Glory’ Oil vessel loaded with 750,000 barrels of stolen crude oil [transferred from a barge] siphoned from the unprotected and vandalised Trans Niger Pipeline [TNC] in Niger Delta, South South, Nigeria. The ‘Sea giant’ was stealthily heading for West Africa’s stolen crude oil refineries bivouacs, [Cotonou, Benin,; Abidjan, Ivory-Coast; Buchanan and Free-Port Zone, Liberia; and Lungi, Sierra-Leone].
On board this ‘Sea giant’ vessel are members of West Africa’s Sophisticated Crude Oil Theft Ring’ and like the cuttlefish, they eject venom of fire when attacked [armed with gelignite, Short Machine Gun’s, Rocket Propelled Grenades and Surface-Air-Missiles]. They are referred to as the ‘The Untamed Proud Mistress of the West African Sea: Cuttlefish of the Atlantic! The Joint Task Force[JTF] ‘Operation Pulo Shield’ versus Crude Oil Thieves: Who is winning this entwined titanic and epic battle?
“We have zero tolerance for crude oil thefts”, says Major General Emmanuel Atewe, the Joint Task Force [JTF] ‘Operation Pulo Shield’ commander. But does this statement hold water, with daily lifting of stolen crude oil into large ocean going barges, tankers and vessels in the Niger Delta creeks under the watchful eyes and nose of the Joint Task Force [JTF] ‘Operation Pulo Shield’?
In one bivouac and secret illegal refining depot at Krakrama, Bayelsa State, South South Nigeria [the hub of this illicit crude oil fence in West Africa], with about twenty-five middle aged men using crude methods and doing what they know how to do best; refining of stolen crude oil and sitting atop one of the empty drums that littered the bivouac, supervising and monitoring the process, adorned with expensive gold plated neck chain is one of the ‘Sophisticated Crude Oil Theft Ring’ member [name withheld], who enthused emphatically, “We control the market, we dictate, we influence, we pay”, “With unfettered access to the oil pipelines that cross the vast Niger Delta and lame security, the free flow of stolen crude oil by this Sophisticated Ring’ is simply unstoppable,” says Amiekumo Francis, a Youth Leader in Sagbama, Bayelsa State, South South, Nigeria.
How long will this Untamed ‘Proud Mistress’ of the West African Sea continue to strangle the economy of Nigeria nay West Africa causing much havoc and impediments to the growth of our economy?
“Some 2,300 years ago, a message from the great king of Persia Empire interrupted a young general, Alexander III the Great of Macedonia. The Persian ruler made an extra-ordinary offer; 10,000 talents of gold [over two billion dollars at current value] for the king’s family whom the general had captured. Alexander III the Great of Macedonia was faced with a decision to accept or reject the offer! It was a fateful moment for the ancient world and the effects of his decision stretched through the Middle Ages down to the present time.”
From the creeks of Niger Delta and many of its tributaries and its four estuaries in the vast coastline of Niger Delta and Bonny River, South South Nigeria, the stolen crude oil found its way to West African littoral countries: Benin, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra-Leone under the watchful eyes of theses countries’ respective security agencies.
Nigeria loses about 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day estimated at about $88 million dollars per day and estimated $32 billion yearly to Oil Pipelines vandals, Shut downs, Diversions and Illegal refining of stolen crude oil carried out by this ‘Sophisticated Crude Oil Theft Ring’ . They are bold, live in affluence, organised they dare and are protected by these countries’ security agencies, who seem helpless and lame as regards the crude oil ‘Sophisticated Ring’.
“The Sophisticated Crude Oil Theft Ring’ is a triple threat; denying government of revenues, vandalizing of oil pipelines, at the same time through their fencing and shipping operations, they create demand that motivates others to commit crude oil theft,” says Mr Mutiu Sunmonu, MD/CEO, Shell Petroleum Development Company [SPDC]. He had warned on several occasions that the company’s operations were being threatened by vandals and oil thieves and called for measures to increase security in the area.
The Federal Government has estimated that the nation was losing $32 billion yearly to oil theft believed to be perpetrated by powerful cabals with links to government and the military. The Navy has blamed shortage of patrol boats for the inability to effectively police the nation’s waterways
In Sagbama, and Krakrama, Nigeria; Cotonou, Benin; Abidjan, Ivory-Coast; Buchanan, and Free-Zone, Liberia; Lungi, Sierra-Leone creeks and estuaries, they are linked and fenced with same rhythm; refining and selling of stolen crude oil. Refining takes place in expansive tanks farms, illegal and crude refining depots against all risks and the lifting takes place across various illegal and secret jetties to large ocean going barges and vessels,; here stolen crude oil refining is a lucrative, thriving and booming business, with Seller’s Option to Double [S.O.D].
The United States, the International Monetary Fund [IMF], President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria [whose home state Bayelsa State accounts for 87 percent of the total crude oil theft in Nigeria], Transparency International [TI], Shell International, and the World Bank had one time or the other decried this illicit but thriving business that has cost Nigeria a colossal loss of $32 billion dollars in revenue yearly and a loss of about 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day. And with the current fall in Crude oil price and the boycott by the US government of Nigeria’s Crude Oil in preference for Angola’s, spells doom for our economy.
“We have invited AfriCom, Stuttgart, Germany-based United States Africa Military High Command and the British Defence to help and partner with Nigerian Navy in stemming this ugly monster, ” says Diezani Allison-Maduekwe, Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources.
The Nigeria security outfit established for protecting and maintaining security in the Niger Delta, The Creeks and The Bonny River Channel, the Joint Task Force [JTF] ‘Operation Pulo Shield’ seem lame and incapacitated and are at the mercy of this ‘Sophisticated Ring’; “the Joint Task Force [JTF] ‘Operation Pulo Shield’ is simply lame and helpless,” says Emmanuel Uduaghan, Delta State Governor, South South, Nigeria.
“But the island-city of Tyre resisted the invasion. Determine to conquer it, Alexander III the Great of Macedonia began a siege that lasted seven months. During the siege came Darius’s peace offering mentioned earlier. So attractive were the concessions that Alexander III the Great of Macedonia’s trusted adviser Parmenio reportedly said: “Were I Alexander, I would accept”, but the young general retorted, “So would I, Were I Parmenio”,. Refusing to negotiate Alexander III the Great of Macedonia continued with the siege and demolished that proud mistress of the sea ‘ Tyre’, in July 322 BC.
Can’t security agencies of these five West African countries draw a circle of battle around this ‘Sophisticated Crude Oil Theft Ring’ and tell them to stop before crossing the line and if they defy the warning destroy this Untamed ‘Proud Mistress’ of the West African Sea? Instead, will the West African security agencies become a living portrait of abject terror, palpitation, blanched faced, wobbled hips, knocking knees, and troubled whole body against this ‘Sophisticated Crude Oil Theft Ring’, who are foolhardy?
Is the West Africa Sophisticated Crude Oil Theft Ring’ out of control, with West African countries’ armada, International Maritime Satellite [IMARSAT], and helipads across the vast Gulf of Guinea? West African security agencies are simply weeping like a woman for what they cannot defend as a man!
•Adeyemi could be reached at [email protected]. Cells:+234 [0] 701-224-8573; +234 [0] 816-950-3218. Twitter: @Taiwo387; Skype: Mantee70.