By Godwin Oritse
Fresh concerns over the persistent menace of crude oil theft in the Niger Delta were recently brought to the fore by the traditional ruler of Upata Kingdom in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, His Royal Majesty, Felix Otuwarikpo, who alleged that influential members of the nation’s elite are deeply involved in the illicit trade and the sabotage of critical oil infrastructure.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Press Week of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Rivers State Council, the monarch called on the media to intensify investigative reporting and expose those behind the criminal enterprise. He stressed that the press, as the watchdog of society, has a crucial role to play in uncovering activities that have continued to deprive the nation of enormous revenue and undermine economic development.
According to the traditional ruler: “The elite sponsor people to indulge in pipelines vandalism at the community level, so we should begin to look beyond blaming poverty and illiteracy. We should broaden our assertions to include elite class involvement in order to find lasting solutions.”
He urged journalists to be more critical in reporting the oil sector in order to expose members of the elite class that sponsor crude oil theft and economic sabotage.
Recall that former Governor of Edo State and a sitting Senator, Adams Oshimhole recently on the floor of the Senate, threw a bombshell, when he accused some retired senior members of the military of being behind oil theft in the Niger Delta region.
Also, in a statement, the League of Maritime Editors (LOME) said the gravity of the allegations cannot be easily dismissed, given the fact that they were made by two highly respected personalities from the Niger Delta region.
In the statement signed by its President, Remi Tie said that crude oil theft and vandalism of oil and gas infrastructure have been a sore point in the nation’s quest for economic growth and regeneration. It comes with debilitating effects on the country’s economy.
Itie explained that apart from the economic haemorrhage and attendant environmental pollution that come with the crime, such organised heist, has become a money spinning business for the oil thieves and at the detriment of the country.
She said:”Many Nigerians are aware that before the Muhammadu Buhari administration, Nigeria’s oil production capacity was consistently over two million barrels per day and shortfalls only occurred during periods of pipeline vandalism by militants but once repairs were made, production returned to normal.
“However, under the leadership of the former Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, Mele Kyari’s, crude Oil production was artificially kept down at between 1.3 and 1.4 million barrels per day. What happened to the shortfall could hardly be explained as the anomaly remained even after Kyari’s departure. The new Group Managing Director that took over from Kyari seemed also to find it difficult to dismantle the existing structure because, apparently, he does not supervise Nigeria’s oil export terminal operations.
“What is more worrisome is the fact that instead of crude oil production to be on the increase so as to meet the county’s Organization of Petroleum Exporting Country’s (OPEC) allocated quota, with the renewed policing and protection of the crude oil pipelines and crude oil facilities, Nigeria’s current crude oil production quota from the oil cartel stubbornly stagnated at 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd).
“Over the last two years (2025 through mid-2026), Nigeria had continuously struggled to meet its OPEC allocated quota, with production averaging between 1.3 million and 1.55 million bpd depending on the month. Unfortunately, the country’s 2026 federal budget targets a higher production benchmark of 1.84 million bpd (which includes condensates) to meet its revenue benchmark.
“Though experts say pipeline vandalism, aging infrastructure, and crude oil theft are majorly the cause of the country’s frequent drop in crude oil production, below 1.5 million bpd and its inability to also meet higher production benchmark, but most disturbing is why decades of Pipelines vandalism and crude oil theft cannot be completely checked.
“Unfortunately, the country under the Muhammedu Buhari administration abandoned the Navy whose constitutional responsibility it is to police the water channels and the creeks, and instead handed it’s pipelines and oil security to a private entity, Tantita Security company. Though Tantita on its own recently presented to the National Assembly a score card of its operations, but it’s an open secret that last year too, the US Coast Guard and Navy intercepted a supertanker, namely, Skipper, in December 2025 on suspicions of crude oil theft and equally linked the operation to a money-laundering network.
“The supertanker with capacity to carry up to 2.2 million barrels of crude oil was reportedly owned and managed by Nigeria-based Thomarose Global Ventures Ltd. Thomas Mackistosh later told the US authority that its company had no hand in anything coming from Nigeria . Similar incidents abound in the Nigerian waters where crude oil ships reportedly sneak into the creeks and escape with large cargoes of unaccounted oil.
“Since the shocking discovery in the United States, no government agency; neither the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) nor NNPCL or any government spokesperson made any official statement to enlighten the people on the incident.
“Sadly too, no one is asking the NNPCL, NIMASA, Navy or Tantita questions, yet tax payers money and money generated from crude oil production are used by the Federal government to fund these organisations.
“As rightly stated by His Royal Majesty, Felix Otuwarikpo, crude oil theft is a well organised crime that has become a money spinning business that can not be funded or sponsored by poor and uneducated people.
“The League of Maritime Editors (LOME), the country’s number one Maritime watchdog is worried about this sordid development in the country’s oil sector given the importance of crude oil to the nation’s economy.”
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