Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has said it is taking President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to court over illegal oil pipelines being discovered in the Niger Delta region.
In a statement issued via the its twitter handle, SERAP said, “We’re suing the Buhari administration over the discovery of illegal oil pipelines.”
Nigeria’s chief executive officer of National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, told a joint Senate committee last week Tuesday that it has uncovered a four-kilometre theft pipeline from Forcados Terminal that is operated by oil thieves.
Kyari noted that the illegal oil connection line from Forcados Terminal into the sea which had been in operation for nine years was detected during a surveillance check by security operatives led by Tantita security Services Ltd.
“In the course of the clampdown within the last six weeks, 395 illegal refineries have been deactivated, 274 reservoirs destroyed, 1,561 metal tanks destroyed, 49 trucks seized,” Kyari told the lawmakers.
He added that 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, which had led to a closedown of some of their operational facilities.
SERAP is however compelling the federal government to name those responsible for the plundering of the country’s oil wealth, bring them to justice, and recover the proceeds of crime.
At the a press conference last Sunday in Warri, the ex-militant leader, Government Tompolo, disclosed that over 58 points that have been tapped wete discovered in both Delta and Bayelsa states.
