BY EFE MODESTUS
King Bubaraye Dakolo, Agada IV, the Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama Kingdom and Chairman, Council of Traditional Rulers in Bayelsa State has been described severally as a radical monarch based on his background as a soldier and his thoughts which he has documented in three books – The Riddle of The Oil Thief, Once A Soldier and African Voice.
King Dakolo, who is brutally frank on issues that have to do with the relationship between the Nigerian State and the Niger Delta region, in an interview with our correspondent declared that the prevalence of crude oil theft can be traced to the fact that it is being condoned by the Federal Government of Nigeria. According to him, the security agencies are helpless because they know the Federal Government is not serious about curbing oil theft.
You just launched two books – Once A Soldier and African Voice, coming after another book, The Riddle of The Oil Thief. These are three books in two years. Where is His Royal Majesty writing all these books?
There are two things. One is that there is scarcity of the right information on critical issues. Largely we seem to be leaving out critical thinking. We are thinking in a stereo-type way, a way that imperialists and neo-colonialists seem to desire. So as we go about our daily business we seem to enrich the Europeans to our detriment.
The other one is that in the palace of the Agada IV, there is a room which is the Niger Delta Hall of Fame, where you just walked into and everything you desire is there. You more or less download it and get what you want.
Your first book, The Riddle of The Oil Thief has gained international acclaim for its revelations and one of the issues you raised is crude oil theft which is still prevalent. Why is this so?
The mismanagement of the oil resources in the past 67 years is the reason for the continued crude oil theft. Oil and gas resources have been so poorly managed to the point that Nigerians hardly knew how many barrels the country produced. So, it is like you have a priceless commodity but you don’t seem to care how it is dug out of the ground and how it is sold. In fact, Europeans have collected on our behalf our oil and sell at some cost before allowing them to sell at a universal cost, thereby fleecing the hell out of us. And the Nigerian government does not seem to care. The oil resource in its mismanagement has destroyed agriculture, damaged the environment, manufacturing, security and every other thing in this country.
Individuals and foreign governments have been part of crude oil theft. And we have a docile Nigerian government sitting like a lame duck and allowing this to happen without any consequences more or less. Over the years, more people have got involved. Nigeria loses about 200,000 barrels a day to oil thievery. That is the statistics. It is not from me. NNPC can corroborate. At one time, last year, NNPC said it was losing $750 million every month. The quantum of oil being stolen cannot be stolen by one riff-raff. You can’t steal this oil and put it in your back pocket. It is stolen and put into a large ocean-going vessel, stolen from the real terminals where oil is supposed to be exported. This is what has been going on for years. Nigeria has lost so much money to oil thievery. Oil theft is now like a national pastime. If a government official collaborating with international criminal gangs steals oil in multiple thousands of barrels for years without consequences, you would be a dumb primary school boy if you are standing there and also not going to have a bite. Have you wondered why a petrol tanker carrying petrol falls and people go to scoop oil and get burnt in the process? It is because it is free. So, these other small people they arrest are victims of crude oil theft. They are not the real thieves. These guys could have been anything else if the country was serious.
How would you react to increased oil theft with the presence of the military and para-military, and even outsourcing the security of pipelines to a private security firm, all in a bid to curb this crime?
It is a shame that you have all the security apparatus and yet oil theft is going on. It is shameful that with these institutions, you still outsource protection of the pipelines in the manner that they do to private firms. It is a big shame and a slap on the back. However, it is a big shame to the Federal Government of Nigeria that this is happening, because everything comes from them. I have been in the military myself so I know the psychology of the military. Today if Mr. President wants to stop crude oil theft, 14 days is too much, he will stop it. The same military you talk about are not made up of dumb people; they are made of trained professionals, trained in the act of defence of the Nigerian state. They are not fools. So, if Mr President wants them to effectively do their job, you give them training, equipment and money to do all that is required. Then you give them the right marching orders. It is not just to come on TV and say you want to stop crude oil theft. The security agencies over the years have seen that the Federal Government is not serious about combating oil theft. They have seen that the Federal Government is only putting them in harm’s way. I was a member of the 38 Regular Course, so I know how everything works. The security agencies are not curbing oil because the Presidency does not want it to be curbed. The Nigerian state has left the job it ought to do and is doing things it should not do. It doesn’t matter if they deploy the military, the Federal Government has not given them the effective orders. It is very important. There are what they call effective orders. I know how to give effective orders and the executive can give effective orders.
The Federal Government has been joking over the crude oil theft. In the last eight years, Nigeria had a President who was also the Petroleum Minister. That was when the crime in the oil industry went to the highest level in history. The military is a subordinate institution in the governance of this country. They are answerable to civilian authority. Civilians must learn how to call a spade a spade and allow the military to function.
During the campaigns, President Bola Tinubu visited you and you had discussions on Niger Delta issues. Do you see any hope of development for the Niger Delta under him?
The reason we’re alive is because we have not given up hope. I would not give up hope and I expect him to do his best for the Niger Delta. Doing his best for the Niger Delta actually means doing his best for the country. The reason why Nigeria is suffering is because of the insincerity of the Nigerian government to the Niger Delta people. Oil is the main source of revenue for Nigeria and yet, Nigeria is not fair to the people where the revenue comes from. If you go around the Niger Delta, you would see squalor side by side with opulence and affluence. So long as the Nigerian state wants to remain detached from issues in the Niger Delta, so long the country will continue to suffer.
President Tinubu will need to be fair, extremely fair to the people of the Niger Delta. He should not just have a Ministry of Niger Delta but a Ministry of Niger Delta that he would ensure does its work. We should not just have an NDDC that they use for election but a functional and effective NDDC. There is no reason why we should have an NDDC that was created 23 years ago with billions of naira sunk into thousands of failed projects everywhere as the signature of NDDC.
Do you agree with the views of Governor Douye Diri that the Petroleum Industry Act is a time bomb?
The PIA is an anti-people act designed against the oil-producing people. It is designed in favour of the oil companies to the exclusion of the Niger Delta people. For the past 25 years, we have had a Joint Task Force for the security of oil and gas installations and for 25 years they have not been able to curb oil theft in any reasonable way. No big oil thief has been jailed. It has even gone to an all-time high in the last few years. So now, if trained professionals cannot stop oil theft, the PIA says my kingdom would benefit only if there is no hiccup in oil production in my domain. Now my domain is accessible by water which means someone can take a fast speed boat from Lagos and come to my kingdom or anywhere else, then disappear. But it is my people that would be denied the paltry three per cent. So the question is, why would you give to civilians in oil producing communities what the security agencies cannot stop? Is that not callousness? When the bill initially came 20 years ago, it was good for everybody, but the oil Industry did not want to hear that so they bribed all those they could. We know this and how Ghana- Must-Go bags were shared at the National Assembly for them to pass this anti-people law. It is actually a time bomb because they left out the states, and the entire operations take place in the states.
What is your take on the removal of fuel subsidy?
If the Nigerian state can manage its resources properly, there won’t be a need for fuel subsidy. It boils down to the Federal Government managing the affairs of the country. If the government is serious with or without fuel subsidy, the refineries would work. Everything is determined by the government at that centre.
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