A former Minister of Information and Ijawl leader, Chief Edwin Clark, yesterday blamed both retired and serving army generals for the continued oil theft in the Niger Delta region.
Clark passed the blame on them as delegates to the National Conference yesterday continued with their committee report on public revenue, calling for the building of more oil refineries in the country as a solution to the importation of petrol and the reduction of the price of the product.
This, they argued, would stop the funding of importation of fuel and also automatically remove fuel subsidy by the federal government.
Clark, who spoke during the debate on the report of the Committee on Public Finance and Revenue, chaired by Alhaji Adamu Aliero, said the military officers were neck deep in illegal crude oil bunkering in the region.
He said he reported his discoveries to the then President Olusegun Obasanjo who directed his Minister of Defence, General Theophilus Danjuma, to investigate the issue.
According to the Ijaw leader, “The military officers in Niger Delta region are connected with crude oil theft. I made this point to President Obasanjo and he asked Danjuma, who was the minister of defence then to look into the allegation and he went and found out that it was true.
Clark passed the blame on them as delegates to the National Conference yesterday continued with their committee report on public revenue, calling for the building of more oil refineries in the country as a solution to the importation of petrol and the reduction of the price of the product.
This, they argued, would stop the funding of importation of fuel and also automatically remove fuel subsidy by the federal government.
Clark, who spoke during the debate on the report of the Committee on Public Finance and Revenue, chaired by Alhaji Adamu Aliero, said the military officers were neck deep in illegal crude oil bunkering in the region.
He said he reported his discoveries to the then President Olusegun Obasanjo who directed his Minister of Defence, General Theophilus Danjuma, to investigate the issue.
According to the Ijaw leader, “The military officers in Niger Delta region are connected with crude oil theft. I made this point to President Obasanjo and he asked Danjuma, who was the minister of defence then to look into the allegation and he went and found out that it was true.
“So, because of these military officers, either retired or serving, I will suggest that the troops in the region be changed from time to time. In doing so, you will find out that crude oil theft will be reduced.”
The Ijaw leader who said it was not known what quantity of crude oil was produced in Nigeria said: “We discovered in 1972 that the government officials, who were there, were more interested in what they could get than protecting the interest of Nigeria, which made it hard to know how much oil was taking away from our shores. It was published in the newspaper; till today, I believe that if you go to Forcados terminal the same story will also be told.”
The Delta State-born elder statesman who noted that the youths of the region only embarked on ‘bucket bunkering’-a small scale bunkering-because they don’t have the technical know-how required for such operation, said the real crude oil thieves are those who came from oversees.
“Secondly, we are talking about crude oil theft, I have always said our young men at home do bucket bunkering. They have no facility and they also lack the technology to operate, but those who steal large quantity of the crude oil are people who come from abroad. Have we forgotten the case where three naval admirals were involved in the deal and were court marshalled?” he asked.
Clark also advocated the inclusion of youths in the communities to protect oil pipelines, saying he once approached President Obasanjo with such proposal.
SOurce: Thisday
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