The Naval Commander, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Jubilee, Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Commodore Martins Fakrogha, has warned personnel involved in aiding and abetting crude oil theft, insisting that any officer caught shall face full wrath of law.
”Any officer caught in this illicit conduct shall be dismissed” said Commodore Martins.
Fakrogha stated this in an interview with journalists in Ikot Abasi where he admitted the involvement of military personnel in the illicit trade.
The Commander however noted that such occurrences have reduced in the last six to nine months since President Bola Tinubu-led administration assumed power.
He emphasized that the war against oil thieves, illegal bunkering and other oil sector fraud on the waterways have been intensified in line with the directive of the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, whom he said has zero tolerance for crimes amongst his officers and men.
His words, “I will simply say that in every twelve, there is a Judas. Yes, some personnel are complicit, but like I told you, the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) has zero tolerance for any form of crude oil theft and even indiscipline.
“If you are part of it (oil theft), you are a bad egg amongst us, and we will fish you out and throw you out. Over the years, things like that have occurred, but in this regime, there hasn’t been any situation where an Officer was involved in such criminal activities.
“I have not heard of any in the past six to nine months, but if there be any, they (the culprits) should know that they will be discovered and dealt with according to the law,” Commodore Fakrogha pledged.
On the menace of sea piracy, the Commander said Navy operatives have turned the heat on pirates, warning the criminal elements on Akwa Ibom waterways to leave or be ready to face the superior firepower.
“There’s one thing we know about the Sea Pirates. Most of them live amongst us. They do come back to the land to take care of their business. How we are pursuing the Sea pirates is that from vessels doing business on Sea, we support them by providing escorts and patrols for them.
“Also, we conduct “stop and search” on the waterways to find out what each vessel is being used for. We discuss with both owners and ship owners so that they will tell us whatever is happening at sea. We communicate with them to know if there are pirates somewhere or not.
“So, when we get this information, we carry out operations to arrest them. For the fishermen, the state government is also coming up with a maritime taskforce so that those who are doing legitimate businesses are protected.
“So, you’ll see us more at sea now or along our coastline to be sure that the fishermen go about their normal duties,” he explained.
In order to address the challenge of sea bandits and other maritime marauders, Fakrogha, said the serious issue is not insurmountable.
“We’re having serious challenges, but they are not challenges we cannot overcome. Due to the vast nature of the coastline where we operate, our boats and ships cannot cover these areas completely. The second challenge is with our domain awareness facilities. There are some blind spots that the equipment doesn’t cover.
“Some of these criminals got to know about if and how they are performing their activities in those places. We now position our vessels in those areas that the domain awareness facilities don’t cover so that we can still monitor them.
“This affects a lot of our logistics requirements like the pool reserves and the manpower. It also consumes diesel and Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), and the prices of these things are high,” Fakrogha noted.
He appealed to the government to continue giving his men the diesel and fuel as supplied before, saying it would go a long way to support the Naval operations in the area.
The Navy chief also urged the Federal Government to revisit granting licenses to oil bunkerers and illegal refinery operators to legalize their acts through modular refinery operations as a way to stem activities of oil thieves.
“Let me recall that during President Goodluck Jonathan’s regime, people were told to go and get licences for modular refineries, and that is still there. But these people have refused to do that. Approval is given to some, but they do not operate. Maybe because they don’t know how to get the product and they are always getting it illegally, destroying the ecosystem.
“So, if I were to advise Mr. President, I would encourage him to reopen the window, let people with the modular licences create these refineries, and maybe they will buy the crude legally and refine it. We can also man these oil Wells that have supposedly been abandoned.
“If they cannot get the product, they cannot refine anything. That is how we are trying to curb these illegal refineries,” the Naval Commander said.