By Edozie Obasi-Eze

The deafening noise about crude oil theft in Nigeria has gotten to a level where no right-thinking person can continue paying a deaf ear to it.

With individual households carving in under prevalent economic pressure, which is biting hard with stagflation, there’s little doubt that the man on the street is being compelled to ponder what has become of the national wealth.

While those in authority have been quick to point accusing fingers at hoodlums, particularly the natives of the Niger-Delta region, those who know maintain that hydrocarbons are of such nature that they cannot be sneaked out of any part of the world without the authority being culpable.

This much the presidential flagbearer of the Labour Party, Peter Obi averred recently.

He also brought it to national consciousness that those behind crude oil theft, having been startled by his posturing that truth must be told are now masterminding his being taken out of circulation.

The elite class would rather that their well-thought-out, and overly played-out narrative, of pointing accusing fingers at criminal elements, especially in the Niger Delta continues to circulate.

But Nigerians appear to have had enough of that and have started going out of their way to share information with the public that buttresses why Mr Obi’s allegations might be true.

In a recent trending video making the rounds on social media, an anonymous vlogger went aboard what he described as “an anonymous vessel” which he categorically averred was capable of loading and lifting up to one million barrels of crude oil.
The male voice in the video described the vessel, as a Very Large Cargo Career (VLCC).

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The man who made or voiced the video appears very familiar with the operations of the oil industry and the security architecture in the sector.

Drawing from inside knowledge, he pinpointed universal vessel tracking standards, which the Navy of sovereign nations deploy to keep all vessels that sail into their territorial waters, for whatever purpose, under the radar.

The trackers, the voice said, aid the Navy in clearly identifying and monitoring vessels up to 1,000 nautical miles from the seaport.

The video showed a piece of equipment, that looked like a clock which he asserted was capable of helping the Nigerian Navy fish out each and every ship sailing into Nigeria’s territorial waters, and have it under the radar, each second of the day.

According to the voice, the Global Positioning System (GPS), Automatic Identification System (AIS) and, Long Range Identification Tracker (LRIT) were all at the disposal of the Nigerian Navy, which reinforces claims in an earlier interview by Obi, that the government officials were behind crude oil theft in Nigeria.

The 2’51” video showed vivid images of a vessel fortified with all the equipment the voice was referring to, to buttress that Obi was right that those, who have been raping the Nigerian economy by lending official channels for crude oil theft were capable of going after the presidential hopeful.

Beaming his camera on the VLCC, he said, “Now, there is no how that a vessel of this magnitude; ship of this size will sail into Nigeria’s territorial waters, load crude oil and sail out undetected, unnoticed.
“And they (the authorities) will be telling the world that nobody knows when the ships sail in, load Nigeria’s crude oil and sail out,” he retorted.

He emphasised that “the moment any ship enters Nigeria’s territorial waters, both the Navy and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) have good enough resources (human and equipment) to notice and bring it under the radar, even before it gets into any form of activities.

“And the authorities would be addressing the people as if they cannot reason anything out.”
It does appear that the increasing outcry has gotten to the authorities, though, as relevant agencies of government have begun responding to the issue.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), on Wednesday went public with a vow to clear the air on the narrative, by getting to the root of the matter, with a probe.

Chief Executive, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, who personally signed the statement to drive home the importance, vowed that the Commission would investigate the operational and commercial activities of companies licensed to explore and produce crude in Nigeria.

He said, “One of the steps, in line with its (NUPRC) technical and regulatory powers, is to probe into the operational and commercial activities of exploration and production companies operating within the country.

”Komolafe added that the NUPRC would busy itself with determining the level of compliance or otherwise of the oil majors with the terms of their licences.
According to the CE, the main purpose of the probe would be “to ascertain the level of compliance with the terms and conditions in their (oil firms’) operational contracts, as well as the challenges impeding expected deliveries.

“The commission will particularly be interested in the mode of operation of the companies in relation to the approvals as per their operational licences, the level of conformity with the technical provisions and production terms, their level of investments to enhance capacity utilisation, and the challenges they are facing, especially those contributing to the current unacceptable situation.

“Beginning from Wednesday, September 28, the commission will be engaging all the exploration and production companies individually to get to the root of the current situation as it believes strongly that there might be more fundamental issues in the industry affecting expected output and deliveries beyond the much-touted issue of crude theft.

”Biztellers gathered that to demonstrate its seriousness over the matter, the NUPRC had already sent invitations to the identified oil majors to appear before it.
Other voices who have been speaking against crude oil, include elder statesman, Pa Edwin Clark.