Government Knows Crude Oil Thieves – Tony Elumelu

The Chairman of Heir Holdings, Tony Elumelu, has said the federal government knows those behind crude oil theft in Nigeria.

Tony Elumelu said oil theft is a coordinated crime. He argued that crude oil thieves operate using vessels and cannot carry out successful operations without the knowledge of security agencies.

Elumelu, in an interview with Financial Times, said his first attempt to invest in the oil and gas industry was thwarted by former president, Muhammadu Buhari and his former chief of staff, late Abba Kyari, in 2017.

He said his company lost about 95 percent of its crude to oil theft in 2022. “This is oil theft, we’re not talking about stealing a bottle of Coke you can put in your pocket. The government should know, they should tell us.

“Look at America — Donald Trump was shot at and quickly they knew the background of who shot him. Our security agencies should tell us who is stealing our oil. You bring vessels to our territorial waters and we don’t know?” Elumelu told the Financial Times.

Elumelu, a member of President Bola Tinubu’s Economic Advisory Council, explained that there was nothing wrong with the migration of Nigerian citizens to Western nations.

He explained that unemployment and the need for young Nigerians to achieve their dreams after graduating from high institutions were responsible for the brain drain.