HUMAN rights
lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, on Thursday alleged that
$12.7bn worth of crude oil was stolen from the country between 2011 and 2014.
Falana spoke
at the 40th anniversary celebration of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior
Staff Association of Nigeria in Abuja, and called for the immediate recovery
from oil companies, royalties that ought to have accrued to the Federation
Account since 2014.
He also
called on PENGASSAN to prevail on the anti-corruption agencies to probe and
trace the funds, as well as determine the culprits.
The lawyer
said the crude oil theft data was released by the Nigerian Maritime
Administration and Safety Agency, and promised to make the report available to
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other stakeholders.
“The study
revealed that the value of the money from oil stolen from Nigeria is $12.7bn.
The oil was discharged in one port. We have identified who the oil majors are
and the shipping companies involved; but since 2014, we have been begging the
Nigerian government to recover the money,” Falana stated.
He urged
PENGASSAN, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and the
Nigeria Labour Congress to institute a probe, track and investigate the volume
of crude oil stolen from the country and discharged at ports in the United
States, India, China, France and Britain, noting that if the issue was taken
seriously, Nigeria would see the return of over $100bn.
“This is the
real money that should be recovered. That is why I am appealing to NUPENG,
PENGASSAN and the NLC to assist in going to the root of this criminality at the
international level and recover the money and put it in the federation’s
coffers so that our people can enjoy the benefits of the oil and gas industry,”
Falana said.
The legal
practitioner also challenged the labour centres to look into the Halliburton
case to ensure that justice prevailed and see to it that recovered funds were
used for the benefit of the country.
The Group
Managing Director, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, urged PENGASSAN to collaborate with the
corporation.
He said,
“The NNPC appreciates your consistent involvement in the industry’s policy
formulation, the most recent being the Petroleum Industry Bill; the corporation
also appreciate your advocacy for robust local content development as well as
your complementary role to grow a virile and productive economy for the
country.
“These have
gone a long way to demonstrate the high stake you have exhibited in the service
of the industry and the nation. I can only add that you keep up your good
work.”
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