Churches, Mosques Hoard Stolen Crude Oil – Kyari

By Tolulope Oke

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited’s Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mele Kyari, has accused government officials, religious figures, security organizations, and even certain employees of the country’s crude oil theft.

The majority of the stolen crude products, he claimed, are discovered in churches and mosques despite the fact that Nigeria is a deeply devout nation, and a network of vandals has been operating in conjunction with these establishments.

The NNPC chief stated that the threat affects every member of society while speaking at the 49th session of the weekly cabinet meeting at the State House in Abuja.

“When a fire outbreak happened in one of our pipelines, we discovered that some of the pipelines were actually connected to individuals’ homes. And not only that, and with all sensitivity to our religious beliefs, you know, some of the pipelines and some of the products that we found, are actually in churches and in mosques,” Mr Kyari said.

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“That means that everybody is involved. There is no way you will take products, bring them in trucks in populated neighbourhoods, load them, and leave without everybody else knowing about it. Everybody includes members of the community, members of the religious leaders and also and most likely government officials of all natures, including security agencies personnel

“They are everywhere. And I’ve seen this even in the Niger Delta. There’s no way you would deliver a volume and lose up to 30 per cent and you will continue to put those products in this line,” he said.

For this reason, the NNPC boss disclosed that the entire network of pipelines for petroleum products distribution in the country has been shut down, as a result of the activities of vandals.

To further address the menace, the Group CEO announced that a national reserve company will be established to manage the pipelines on a commercial basis to efficiently put them to use for the distribution of products across the country.