ANEEJ Urges UNOTC 11th Session to take action against Oil theft in Nigeria
VIENNA, AUSTRIA. October 19, 2022… Worried by increasing bleeding of the Nigerian economy by the menace of Oil theft aggravated by activities of transboundary syndicates, the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, has called on the ongoing 11th Session of the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) in Vienna Austria to take action to expose and deal with all those connected with oil theft in Nigeria to stop the economic hemorrhage.
The Executive Director of ANEEJ, the Rev David Ugolor who made the call in a statement today in Vienna, Austria noted that delegates at the 11th session of the UNTOC cannot afford to end the session without committing to deal with the issue of oil theft which for years have threatened the economy of Nigeria and other oil producing countries in the Gulf of Guinea thereby exacerbating poverty in the region.
Ugolor noted that the Russia-Ukraine war has further put pressure on the world to increase fossil fuel production to meet global energy demand and transnational oil thieves who have been on the throes of the Nigerian economy have cashed in on the situation tofurther bleed the nation’s economy acting in concert with unscrupulous Nigerian government officials, urging the UNTOC to take deliberate actions to end oil theft.
“We call on the 11th Session of the UNTOC to declare oil theft as a global threat to global financial system and the fight against climate crisis.” Ugolor said.
He further noted that “statistics of oil theft among major oil-producing countries show that Nigeria is losing as much as 400,000 barrels of oil per day which equates to losses of US$1.7-billion a month. This is huge loss compared to a total theft of 5,000 to 10,000 bpd and 2,000 to 3,000 bpd in Mexico and Indonesia respectively.”
ANEEJ Monitoring and Evaluation Manager,Ms. Sandra Eguagie who is also in Vienna with the Rev David Ugolor for the 11th Session of the UNTOC adds that “Oil theft is a serious transboundary organized crime that is capable of undermining development and democracy in Africa. Oil theft is perpetrated by a criminal network that is beyond Africa and it feeds the criminal market that is sustaining global illicit financial economy.”
“We are here to flag the issue of oil theft as a serious organized crime which is fleecing the Nigerian economy. We want action from the UNTOC,” Ms. Sandra Eguagie demanded.
It will be recalled that pursuant to article 32 of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, a Conference of the Parties to the Convention was established to improve the capacity of States Parties to combat transnational organized crime and to promote and review the implementation of this Convention. The 11th Session of the Conference of Parties is taking place in Vienna from 17-22 October 2022.
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