by Isi Esene

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has called on the Federal Government to curb the rising incident of oil theft in the Niger Delta region so as to prevent an eventual crippling of the economy.

The ACN, through its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, warned that the gains realised by the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme initiated by the Umar Musa Yar’Adua administration is gradually being eroded going by the rising oil theft, violence, and pipeline vandalism.

In the statement released on Sunday, the Party noted that oil theft incidences have now reverted to the pre-amnesty period when oil theft peaked at about 350,000 bpd – higher than the quantity of oil produced daily by Gabon or Equatorial Guinea.

”On Feb. 24th 2013, we raised the alarm that the country’s economy was heading for the rocks, citing the skyrocketing cost of oil production, from 4 dollars per barrel in 2002 to 35 dollars per barrel presently; the massive corruption in the oil sector; the sharp fall in the discovery of new oil and gas reserves due to the low investment in the sector, and the challenge posed by alternative sources of global supply of oil and gas.

”For raising that alarm, we were pilloried by those who acted more out of emotion than facts. Today, we say the situation is actually worse than we had thought, exacerbated by pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft which have reached an unsustainable level. Add this to the resurgence of attacks by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), and we are compelled to cry out again,” it said.

The statement hinteed on the complicity of men of the Military Joint Task Force who are allegedly involved in illegal oil bunkering.

”To worsen matters, it has been alleged that some bad eggs in the military Joint Task Force (JTF) deployed to the region to protect oil personnel and facilities have been accused of complicity in the illegal bunkering activities. This is why the Federal Government must quickly engage key stakeholders in a dialogue with a view to finding ways to stop the criminal act before it cripples the economy and brings Nigeria down to its knees.

”We are particularly concerned that the Nembe Creek axis seems to have been the worst hit by the criminal act, despite being the operating base of a key former militant who has cornered a lucrative Federal Government contract to protect Nigeria’s coastline from the same bunkering activities that are now getting out of control,” the party said.

It said that without prejudice to whatever solutions that key stakeholders may proffer to the criminal act of pipeline vandalism and oil theft, it is important for the security agencies operating in the Niger Delta to ginger up their efforts to safeguard lives and property in the Niger Delta; and the government must recommit itself to enhancing security of investment in the region, while at the same time tackling headlong the grinding poverty in the oil region.