Everybody Is Involved In Oil Theft, Most Stolen Crude Oil Are Found In Churches, Mosques- NNPC Group CEO

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company, Melee Kyari has revealed that no one could be exonerated in the trending crude oil theft that has currently plunged the nation into economic crisis.

Kyari made the statement during the ministerial briefing on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to him, the issue of crude oil theft is a major problem that cannot be solved except all hands are on deck. Everyone is involved in the crime. He noted that most of the people who are arrested as suspects leave many questions unawsered due to the way they are perceived in the society.

He revealed that in most cases, most of the stolen crude oils are later found in churches, mosques and other areas that are not expected to host such incriminating items.

He explained that pipelines vandals are apparently working in collaboration with people who should be respected members of the society and should be in a position to expose the criminals so as to curb the trend.

“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.

“That means that everybody is involved. There is no way you will take products, bring them in trucks in populated neighborhoods, 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 percent and you will continue to put those products in this line.” Kyari said.