Recently, the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike advocated for crude oil theft to be made treasonable. The call was widely reported by the Nigerian media and may have shocked Nigerians. Some have voiced support given the massive stolen national revenue from such theft and the collateral damage to the environment accompanying such theft. There are others who feel that making oil theft treasonable is over the top. But what is it? What should be done?
Wike adds that “You know, this bunkering cannot stop because everybody is involved. The military is involved, the police are involved, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps is involved.” It is a sordid list.
A spokesperson for Organization for Impact and Reform (OFIAR) considers oil theft a high crime deserving a significant punishment. But is treason the appropriate punishment? Is oil theft deserving of capital punishment, which results from treasonable offenses?
OFIAR notes that the country loses millions of dollars to oil theft on an annual basis. In 2019 alone, the National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) estimates that the country lost over 42 million barrels of oil to theft, which is equivalent to 2.17 billion dollars frittered away. It is an opportunity cost that could alleviate poverty in the country. Around the same period, Nigeria doled out $300 million to 300,000 households of petty traders in 19 of the country’s 36 states attempting to alleviate poverty. This is about $14 per month to each household according to analysts. With lost funds from stolen oil, these families could receive six times the amount currently budgeted to solve their problems. Instead, the stolen oil funds went to the pockets of a handful of oil robbers.
OFIAR argues that while the crime robs poor Nigerians of opportunity to solve their problems, treason is classified as the highest of all crimes against the state and it specifically involves betraying one’s allegiance by levying war against the government or giving comfort to the state’s enemies.
Therefore, is oil bunkering treasonable? Certainly not by this understanding of treason. However, it is a high crime against the state that should attract major penalties.
We ask, what do you think? Write to us and share your views on this issue.