The House of Representatives ad hoc committee established to look into crude oil theft and lost petrol tax money has committed to identify those responsible.
Rep. Kabiru Rurum, the committee’s chairman, made this statement to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) before to the inquiry hearing scheduled for September 7.
He stated that the country’s primary source of income remained the oil industry and that it had been decided that this probe would be different from previous ones.
He claims that the main sources of the nation’s resources are oil and gas, but that the theft of oil has continued to get worse every day.
The committee’s mission is to identify those responsible for the theft of crude oil and their architects.
He added that blaming security services would not be sufficient and that all parties involved in the oil industry, including Chevron, Shell, and communities, should be held accountable.
“The investigation’s goal is to identify the perpetrators; everyone, including key stakeholders, should come and share their perspective with us.
The main goal of the group, according to him, was to have all stakeholders recommend methods and strategies to prevent or reduce theft in the oil sector.
According to him, the committee had also invited the Nigerian Air Force, Civil Defence, Police Intelligence Agency, and Navy, which is in charge of looking after the country’s water resources.
He claims that the issues facing the oil industry and their likely solutions will be examined.
He claimed that the Norwegian Embassy had been asked to give a solution after earlier promising to help Nigeria in three areas to stop oil theft.
He added that it would work in coordination with the National Security Adviser and that its advice would be stern because the government was aware of the major issues the industry was facing.
Recall that Rep. Philip Agbese (APC-Benue) earlier proposed a motion on the necessity of looking into crude oil theft and the loss of money accrued from Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
However, the house established an ad hoc committee to look into the matter and make sure that everyone involved in the heist was held accountable.(NAN)
