SERAP to sue Nigerian govt over oil theft

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has declared its intention to file a lawsuit against the Federal Government over oil theft in the country.

The organization disclosed this on its Twitter handle on Sunday.

Oil theft has been identified as one of the major causes of Nigeria’s economic challenges with the country regularly failing to meet the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) production quota.

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd, Melee Kyari, who appeared before the Senate joint committees on petroleum last week, said the company had uncovered an illegal 4-kilometre pipeline from Forcados terminal to the sea and a loading port that had operated undetected in the last nine years.

He noted the pipeline was found during a clampdown on oil thieves in the last six weeks.

READ ALSO: Oil theft killing economy, as 265 illegal refineries uncovered in SPDC corridor

“Oil theft in the country has been going on for over 22 years but the dimension and rate it assumed in recent times is unprecedented.

“As a result of oil theft, Nigeria loses about 600,000 barrels per day, which is not healthy for the nation’s economy, and in particular, the legal operators in the field,” Kyari said.

SERAP vowed to file a lawsuit against the government over its refusal to deal with the crime.

The organization promised to compel the government to make public the names of those behind oil theft.

SERAP wrote: “We’re suing the Buhari administration over the discovery of illegal oil pipelines, to compel it to name those responsible for the plundering of the country’s oil wealth, bring them to justice, and recover the proceeds of crime.”

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