*Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director and CEO of NNPC Limited, alleges high-profile collaboration between the Nigerian security officials and saboteurs to steal the West African country’s crude oil wealth

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

Following a recent sweeping allegation of deploying technology to lay hidden pipelines

Malam Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (GMD/CEO) of NNPCL, has accused the Nigerian Government and security operatii of collaborating with oil thieves to steal the country’s crude oil wealth.

绿帽献妻 learnt Malam Kyari disclosed this development while featuring on a recent pre-recorded Channels TV programme.

The NNPCL Chief stated that those involved in crude oil theft had resorted to illegal application of technology to lay pipelines that are invisible to humans.

He further alleged that the illicit collaboration within the system has aided crude oil theft for some time.

Kyari noted that the extent of such collaboration is unknown to the authorities, report said.

In respect of deployment of technology to steal the country’s crude, the NNPCL EVC/CEO also said: 鈥淲hen you introduce technology into stealing, and this is precisely what they did, and when there is a collaboration of people who should not be part of those activities, you can lay pipelines and no one will see it.

鈥淵ou can do it at night, if you have the ability, and ultimately, this is what we think happened.

According to him, one can lay pipelines for the wrong reasons to assets that may have been abandoned or even active, assets which are not meant for such purposes.

“That means you will see end-to-end collaboration either by people who are around those assets, people operating the assets, people supposed to provide security for these assets, and so on.

鈥淎nd you can eliminate anything. When you find collaborators in the system, then you can get anything done.

“We didn鈥檛 know because the extent of collaboration was unknown to us, and essentially what this intervention process brought to the table is the knowledge that we didn鈥檛 know before,鈥� he stated.

Oil theft menace in economy

Crude oil theft is said to have become a very thorny issue in Nigeria for several years with unimaginable volumes of oil being lifted by some cabal in the oil industry, with serious consequences on the country鈥檚 economy.

It is recalled the NNPC, October 2022, had announced that it uncovered an illegal 4-kilometre pipeline connected from Forcados Terminal and operated for 9 years with about 600,000 barrels per day of oil lost in the same period.

Likewise, Government Ekpemepulo, popularly known as Tompolo, a former militant leader in the Niger Delta area said at least 58 illegal oil points has been discovered so far since the offensive聽 against oil theft on the waterways of Delta and Bayelsa states commenced this year.

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