Faulting the allusion by Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva that external persons were behind the oil theft that is costing Nigeria huge fortune in foreign exchange, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA), yesterday, told the former Bayelsa State governor that the economic saboteurs are in corridors of power.

In a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the group said the dwindling earnings from the sector remain a “critical contributor to the failing economic situation in the country, with Nigeria’s debt already hitting N77 trillion.”

HURIWA said: “The statement by the minister is largely false because the thieves are in government and it should not be difficult for a government that is sincere to nab them.

“Nigerians are not fools. They recall how last year, security agents swiftly destroyed a vessel used for crude oil theft off the Niger Delta creeks after the vessel was reportedly arrested by a newly-contracted private pipeline surveillance team, Tantita Security Services, led by a former militant leader, Government Ekpemepulo (popularly known as Tompolo).”

“The Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, had said the vessel was caught in the act and security agents subsequently set the ‘instrument of operation’ ablaze.

“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited then said it uncovered an illegal oil connection from Forcados Terminal that operated for nine years with about 600,000 barrels per day of oil lost in the same period. Similarly, Tompolo said about 58 illegal oil points were discovered.

“However, none of the suspects in connection with all these discoveries have been exposed or prosecuted. This is complicit and it is unfortunate that a government that claims it is fighting corruption is involved in all these cover-ups. The government and security agents must immediately expose and prosecute all the thieves.”

Sylva, in a release, had insisted that the Federal Government was determined to end the menace through improved investments and security along major oil and gas pipelines in the Niger Delta region.

He denied that 40 per cent of the volumes of crude losses did not come from measurement inaccuracies as publicly held.

The minister said the major sources of oil losses have primarily been theft, pipeline vandalism and production deferment due to non-availability of pipelines.