The latest discovery by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), of 122 illegal oil refining sites across the Niger Delta region in the week just gone by is heartwarming. It shows the company is focused on removing the scourge. it also underscores the gravity of the menace of crude theft in the region, and its staying power despite the heightened offensive to take it out.

The 122 illegal refineries were said to have been found in Tomble II, III, IV, Umuajuloke in Rivers State, and Oporomor III, Eduwini, and Ajatiton in Bayelsa State. Also in the same week, 65 illegal pipeline connections were said to have been identified and removed by the national oil corporation. Indeed, in the week May 18 – 24 alone, 310 incidents of vandalisation were said to have been recorded across the region, the most notable being the vandalised wellheads in Tomble IV, (Rivers), and Egbema (Imo State). Also discovered was a pit filled with crude oil from a vandalised wellhead, including five illegal storage sites with oil stored in sacks, pits, cans, and a filling station in what has remained a thriving network of illegal oil refining and trade.

It is not hard to decipher the motivation of the disparate actors on the illegal oil trade divide. For those in the business, the risks have come to count for nothing in the face of the potential fortune to be made. In other words, the illegal business goes on because the potential benefits far outweigh the risks. With a ready pool of suppliers and demanders to play in the absence of effective containment, the business doesn’t stop at merely breaching the pipelines or the associated refining and infrastructure; the environment is routinely violated just as product standards and performance are sacrificed on the altar of illicit gain while ignorance and criminality intermix.

Surely, the menace is now such that can no longer be ignored. The NNPCL success shows this. As a matter of fact, the more those crude refineries are destroyed, the more it seems that

nimbler and more sophisticated ones emerge to replace them, and these despite the humongous cost to the treasury, the environment and the social fabric.

For the government, the choice isn’t whether to surrender to operators in the criminal enterprise but how to finally put them out of business. We are aware of the argument about the menace as being a derivative of alienation. Flowing from this is the equally persuasive argument that the government somehow find a creative way to accommodate them as against the current standard practice of destroying them. This, some have argued, will at least ensure some standards in the trade, promote inclusiveness while hopefully, helping to fill the perceived domestic supply gap.

We consider those as specious arguments to make. There are, doubtless, countless ways to address the issue of widespread poverty and the resultant alienation without resorting to an open endorsement of criminality and impunity. Given that the crux of the matter is poverty and unemployment, the challenge comes to how the youths in the Niger Delta might be further assisted with expanded opportunities to undertake legitimate businesses.

We note the common thread in all the stories about the discovery of illegal refineries and their associated infrastructure of pipeline vandalism – which is how the NNPC Ltd is finally squaring up to the menace. We have seen private surveillance companies brought in, the result of which oil production has been ramped up. So has the synergy between the different arms of security agencies improved. While these efforts have become necessary and should be sustained, what we expect to see, going forward, is greater use of satellite technology for round-the-clock surveillance of the pipelines and the entire environment where these nefarious activities take place. Surely, while commending the NNPCL breakthrough, the onslaught should not be considered over until the sector is fully rid of the menace.

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