The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Bashir Ojulari, has raised alarm that crude oil theft in Africa is being orchestrated by powerful international and continental criminal syndicates exploiting weak security systems.
Ojulari made the disclosure on Monday at the opening of the Africa Chiefs of Defence Staff Conference in Abuja, stressing that the menace must be treated as a transnational threat rather than a localised challenge.
“Crude theft and the illegal trade around it are not merely domestic issues. They are sophisticated operations driven by specialised global networks that exploit loopholes within state, national, and continental security structures,” he said.
The NNPC chief noted that while Nigeria’s Niger Delta region continues to grapple with oil theft and pipeline vandalism, recent security interventions have helped curb the scale of the problem.
He underscored the importance of security to the energy sector, describing it as “a key pillar of the oil and gas business, and a strategic enabler for national, regional, and continental energy security.”
Ojulari further pointed out that collaborative measures within the energy industry have already produced notable improvements, adding that such partnerships remain crucial to sustaining progress against oil theft and its associated crimes.
