NIGERIA A NATION SIPHONED BY INSTITUTIONS WHO PLAY PRANKS WITH THE NIGERIAN SOVEREIGNTY BY ILLEGALLY SIPHONING ITS RESOURCES.

In the corridors of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, between 2015 and 2019, one voice stood resolute against the silence of corruption. That voice belonged to Hon. Ehiozuwa Johnson Agbonayinma a former lawmaker representing Egor/Ikpoba-Okha Federal Constituency, and now a Federal Commissioner at the Code of Conduct Bureau.

As Chairman of the US-Nigeria Parliamentary Relations Committee, Agbonayinma’s tenure was not just marked by legislative duty, but by an unrelenting pursuit of truth, one that would uncover the massive, unspoken haemorrhaging of Nigeria’s most vital resource; crude oil.

In September 2015, he moved a motion that shook the foundations of Nigeria’s oil industry. A motion that called for the urgent investigation of over $17 billion worth of undeclared crude oil and Liquified natural gas exports between 2011 and 2014. His evidence was solid, his conviction unwavering, and the truth staggering.

With deep ties in the United States, Agbonayinma leveraged congressional and diplomatic support to pursue the truth. He unearthed records from U.S Customs detailing over 391 million barrels of Nigerian crude that landed at U.S ports undeclared by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) now NNPCL. Not a single record matched from home.

BUT AMERICA WASN’T ALONE.

Let’s take it one after the other. "The crude oil that landed in the United States port of Houston and port of Lake Charles, these are information produced by the US Customs; 391,141,049 barrels, that is from Nigeria to the United States alone. We have the vessel numbers, we have the IMO (International Maritime Organization) number, we have the loading date, we have the loading order, we have the offtake date, offtake owner, offtake country and the number of barrels involved." - Hon. EJ Agbonayinma 

ALL THESE ARE UNDECLARED.

NNPC now NNPCL could not provide data. You go to India and the volume of undeclared crude from Nigeria to that country stood at 226,352,489 barrels. We have the vessel numbers, the names of the vessels, the loading dates, the loading point, the offtake owner, the offtake date, the country and the product volume. The port of Netherland received 153,921,151 barrels. Spain received 115,413,332 barrels at different dates and times.

Turkey received 5,315,000 barrels; Japan received 4,352,000 barrels; Egypt received 3,304,500 barrels; Singapore received 3,449,450 barrels; Ireland received 2,686,998 barrels; Croatia received 2,188,000 barrels; Thailand received 1,921,000 barrels; Malaysia received 1,991,000 barrels; Greece received 1,104,500 barrels. 

From the UK to Brazil, from China to Canada, the crude kept flowing... Over 41 countries received Nigerian oil off the books, unaccounted for by Nigeria’s official records.

Who enabled this grand-scale theft?

The complicity cuts across the spectrum from oil companies to corrupt officials, from compromised legal advisers to absent security agencies. Even the meters at export terminals were allegedly purchased, owned, and calibrated by the very oil companies profiting from the theft.

INTERNATIONAL OIL COMPANIES LIKE EXXONMOBIL AND SHELL. 

Sadly, the agencies meant to protect the nation's resources that is- Navy, Customs, NPA, and NNPC now NNPCL were nowhere to be found during crude loading.

In a bold move to recover stolen funds from Nigeria’s undeclared crude oil exports to global destinations, the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has constituted a special Ad-Hoc Committee to reinvestigate the matter. The committee is charged with unraveling the complexities surrounding the massive loss of national revenue through incessant crude oil theft and illegal exports.

This renewed effort marks a pivotal moment in Nigeria’s fight against economic sabotage, and the Senate under Senator Akpabio’s leadership is sending a clear message that the era of impunity and unaccounted wealth siphoned through the oil sector is coming to an end.

Osazee Ofo Polo