Reps panel: There’s need to review legal framework to combat oil theft

An ad hoc committee on crude oil theft of the house of representatives says there is a need to review the country’s legal framework in order to curb crude oil theft effectively.

Alhassan Ado Doguwa, chairman of the committee, said this on Friday when he led a delegation to the headquarters of the Nigerian navy in Abuja.

The lawmaker, who also chairs the committee on petroleum resources (upstream), said the country is losing revenue owing to the activities of bunkerers.

“We appreciate the good work the men and officers of the Nigerian Navy and other sister forces and security agencies have been doing to secure our pipelines to make sure that the country gets good value for our mineral resources,” he said.

“We recognise that there is still a room for more because Nigeria is still losing more to the illegal activities of crude oil theft.

“This is why the Honorable Speaker, House of Representatives Rt. Honourable Tajudeen Abbas has set up this committee in a bid to address one of the threats to the nation’s economy.

“This is the committee’s primary objective of determining the proximate and remote causes of oil theft and recommending remedial measures to the parliament, which means it has to engage with critical stakeholders like the navy.”

On his part, Emmanuel Ogalla, chief of naval staff, said a legal framework that would harmonise the activities of the government security agencies with private security organisations should be put in place.