Alison-Madueke
SIMON UTEBOR encounters some oil thieves operating in the Niger Delta. Additional report by GEOFF IYATSE
The Nigerian government is still grappling with oil theft and related crimes in the oil-rich Bayelsa State as activities of oil criminals still persist there.
Bayelsa is one of the nine states in the Niger Delta that produce the oil and gas that account for about 90 per cent of the Nigeria’s revenue and approximately 95 per cent of its foreign revenue.
Nigeria’s economy revolves around oil and gas and it will be prostrate without them. Yet, past efforts to placate the former Niger Delta militants and aggrieved youths have yet to fully achieve the desired results.
Though the majority of former agitators have been integrated in the amnesty programme of the Federal Government, some ex-agitators, who felt excluded from the package have pitched their tent with an army of unemployed youths to go back to the creeks – to steal oil, burst pipelines and commit other crimes.
At present, many cartels have been formed to perpetrate the criminal activities. As a result, the government’s special security outfit – the Joint Military Task Force – is daily battling with oil criminals in the state and other Niger Delta states.
Some of the suspected oil thieves said they engaged in the nefarious activities because of lack of jobs; poverty, neglect, environmental degradation and insensitivity on the part of the government and oil multinationals.
They boasted that until the alleged injustices in the region were addressed, even the combined operations of the Nigerian security forces would not deter them.
Once upon an oil thief
Mr. Tubokeyie Dauyeibo, an indigene of Peretorugbene in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, told our correspondent in an interview that he was compelled to relocate to the creeks after he searched for jobs unsuccessfully for years.
He said he would not have contemplated taking to the crime if he had what to do to earn a decent living.
Dauyeibo said his business was to locate, break pipelines and steal petroleum products from them.
He also said he was a part of the brains behind many illegal refineries that now dot the creeks, adding that he was an expert in the crude cooking business.
Dauyeibo, who claimed to have quit the illegal venture, said he had formed an organisation, the Movement for Eradication of Local Refineries and Pipeline Vandalism, to join forces with the relevant authorities to fight the menace.
‘I made N5m monthly’
Dauyeibo described the business as the quickest way of becoming overnight millionaires. He recalled that he used to make over N5m monthly from the business.
He said, “I was making a lot of money when I was doing the business. In a month I could make up to N5m. I had some workers. My first operation was in Mbiama, Ahoada East, Rivers State.
“I was both in the business of taking the crude oil and refining it. Through the business, I acquired some parcels of land, built a house and bought a car. I had refineries. But now l have closed down all of them because I don’t want to do the business again. We have all the ideas and techniques of breaking pipelines to take the crude oil, build the refineries and refine the oil.”
How we buy and sell
Miss Josephine Okosisi (not real name) is a dealer in buying and selling of illegally-refined product, particularly Automated Gas Oil.
Okosisi told our correspondent that perpetrators usually bought their products from local refiners and sold to vessels from Calabar, Cross River State and Lagos State.
She said, “We supply the products we buy from illegal refiners to vessels from Lagos and Calabar. We sell the products in drums and each drum is about 30 litres.
“I buy a drum for N5,000 and sell it for N10,000. The business is lucrative. At times, I buy 500 drums, which is N5m and sell it for N10m. After all the expenses, including ‘settling’ the security men, I make close to N350,000 per deal.
“I must confess, I do not know where the vessels we supply sell their products. Many of us are into the business and we are doing it because there is no job. Even some people who have jobs are under-employed. That is why we brave the odds and go into the illicit business.”
On his part, Dauyeibo said there were many buyers for the illegal products, insisting that local and international markets for illegally refined products had continued to expand.
He said, “We have many buyers that used to patronise us. They come with vessels to load. We also used small boats to load the products and take them to the vessels.
The Nigerian government is still grappling with oil theft and related crimes in the oil-rich Bayelsa State as activities of oil criminals still persist there.
Bayelsa is one of the nine states in the Niger Delta that produce the oil and gas that account for about 90 per cent of the Nigeria’s revenue and approximately 95 per cent of its foreign revenue.
Nigeria’s economy revolves around oil and gas and it will be prostrate without them. Yet, past efforts to placate the former Niger Delta militants and aggrieved youths have yet to fully achieve the desired results.
Though the majority of former agitators have been integrated in the amnesty programme of the Federal Government, some ex-agitators, who felt excluded from the package have pitched their tent with an army of unemployed youths to go back to the creeks – to steal oil, burst pipelines and commit other crimes.
At present, many cartels have been formed to perpetrate the criminal activities. As a result, the government’s special security outfit – the Joint Military Task Force – is daily battling with oil criminals in the state and other Niger Delta states.
Some of the suspected oil thieves said they engaged in the nefarious activities because of lack of jobs; poverty, neglect, environmental degradation and insensitivity on the part of the government and oil multinationals.
They boasted that until the alleged injustices in the region were addressed, even the combined operations of the Nigerian security forces would not deter them.
Once upon an oil thief
Mr. Tubokeyie Dauyeibo, an indigene of Peretorugbene in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, told our correspondent in an interview that he was compelled to relocate to the creeks after he searched for jobs unsuccessfully for years.
He said he would not have contemplated taking to the crime if he had what to do to earn a decent living.
Dauyeibo said his business was to locate, break pipelines and steal petroleum products from them.
He also said he was a part of the brains behind many illegal refineries that now dot the creeks, adding that he was an expert in the crude cooking business.
Dauyeibo, who claimed to have quit the illegal venture, said he had formed an organisation, the Movement for Eradication of Local Refineries and Pipeline Vandalism, to join forces with the relevant authorities to fight the menace.
‘I made N5m monthly’
Dauyeibo described the business as the quickest way of becoming overnight millionaires. He recalled that he used to make over N5m monthly from the business.
He said, “I was making a lot of money when I was doing the business. In a month I could make up to N5m. I had some workers. My first operation was in Mbiama, Ahoada East, Rivers State.
“I was both in the business of taking the crude oil and refining it. Through the business, I acquired some parcels of land, built a house and bought a car. I had refineries. But now l have closed down all of them because I don’t want to do the business again. We have all the ideas and techniques of breaking pipelines to take the crude oil, build the refineries and refine the oil.”
How we buy and sell
Miss Josephine Okosisi (not real name) is a dealer in buying and selling of illegally-refined product, particularly Automated Gas Oil.
Okosisi told our correspondent that perpetrators usually bought their products from local refiners and sold to vessels from Calabar, Cross River State and Lagos State.
She said, “We supply the products we buy from illegal refiners to vessels from Lagos and Calabar. We sell the products in drums and each drum is about 30 litres.
“I buy a drum for N5,000 and sell it for N10,000. The business is lucrative. At times, I buy 500 drums, which is N5m and sell it for N10m. After all the expenses, including ‘settling’ the security men, I make close to N350,000 per deal.
“I must confess, I do not know where the vessels we supply sell their products. Many of us are into the business and we are doing it because there is no job. Even some people who have jobs are under-employed. That is why we brave the odds and go into the illicit business.”
On his part, Dauyeibo said there were many buyers for the illegal products, insisting that local and international markets for illegally refined products had continued to expand.
He said, “We have many buyers that used to patronise us. They come with vessels to load. We also used small boats to load the products and take them to the vessels.
