There are indications that the House of Representatives may at the resumption of plenary session next week invite the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin to reveal to the lawmakers names of all the oil companies allegedly aiding and abetting the stealing of crude oil in the country.

Yesterday, The Guardian gathered that the Committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) and (Downstream) and Justice may summon the naval boss to tell the joint panel all he knows concerning the allegations, which were credited to him, where he also threatened to expose the “oil thieves.”

Recall that the Green Chamber had on Wednesday, December 16 last year tasked its joint Committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) and (Downstream) and Justice to investigate the veracity of the allegations by the Chief of Naval Staff that some oil companies operating in the country were aiding and abetting oil.

The decision of the House came following a resolution on a motion introduced on the floor by Hassan Saleh (PDP, Benue). The joint committee was given thirty days to carry out the assignment.

A member of the committee, who yesterday spoke to The Guardian under anonymity said “We are yet to conclude the assignment given to us by the House, but I am sure by next week when we resume from holidays, we may invite the naval chief if needs be, to shed light on the companies helping to steal Nigeria’s crude.”
“Honestly, it is a very serious allegations and if it is coming from a high-ranking security officer, as the
Chief of Naval Staff, we need to look into it. We are actually interested in knowing why the naval chief is only threatening to expose oil thieves when he knows the companies perpetrating this crime.”

Further, the lawmaker said, “Our joint committee is equally interested in looking at ways we can help the navy in curtailing the activities of these oil thieves. How can we stop oil bunkering? What are the possible solutions”?

Specifically, Saleh had told the House that the Chief of Naval Staff, at a meeting with oil companies operating in the country on September 3, 2014, threatened to expose the international oil companies (IOC’s) that are allegedly aiding oil theft in the nation’s coastal waters.

He said, “The issue of oil theft is one major economic challenge facing the country, as it is adversely affecting the nation’s financial well-being, which has led to loss of several billions of dollars to those few unpatriotic elements who are profiting from the nation’s commonwealth.”

We understand the IOC’s are not giving the much-desired cooperation to the Nigerian Navy, and this is disturbing as the Chief of Naval Staff, who has also accused some of those oil companies of creating an enabling environment that aids oil bunkering, crude oil theft and piracy by leaving their oil wells open for years, rather than having them sealed, an action that is clearly against all known international best practices,” the lawmaker told the House before the parliament proceeded for the last Christmas and New Year break.