The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Tuesday disclosed that the nation lost about $750 million to oil theft in 2019. NNPC Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, made this disclosure in a presentation to members of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 13 of the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) during their visit to his office in Abuja.
A statement by acting spokesman of the corporation, Samson Makoji, the GMD was quoted as decrying the increasing menace of oil thieves and pirates which he described as a threat to the operations of the corporation. Kyari stated that any threat to the corporation’s operations was a direct threat to the very survival of Nigeria as nation because of the strategic role of the corporation as an enabler of the economy.
He listed other security challenges facing the corporation to include vandalism of oil and gas infrastructure and kidnapping of personnel, adding that there was a deep connection between the various shades of insecurity challenges as they were all linked to what was happening in the Gulf of Guinea and the entire maritime environment.
The GMD called for concerted effort and synergy to secure oil and gas operations for the economic survival of the country. In his presentation, NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, Engr. Yemi Adetunji, said in 2016, the Gulf of Guinea accounted for more than half of the global kidnappings for ransom, with 34 seafarers kidnapped out of 62 cases worldwide. He said the corporation was working closely with security agencies to tackle the security challenges, and cited “Operation Kurombe” that was recently conducted by the Nigerian Navy at the Atlas Cove as an example of such collaborative effort.
