EFCC Seeks Special Court to Speed Up Oil Theft Trials

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has made a case for a specialised court to try oil theft in the country.

This was disclosed by Mr Michael Uzokwe, the Chief of Staff to the Chairman of the commission, Mr Ola Olukoyede, during the investigative hearing of crude oil theft in Abuja.

He said that the delay in prosecution through regular courts was hampering prosecution and militating against the elimination of crude oil theft and other financial crimes.

He therefore made a strong case for the establishment of Specialized Courts to try cases of those apprehended for oil theft and related crimes to facilitate recoveries.

Mr Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, the Chairman of the Special Committee on Crude Oil Theft, also resolved to constitute a sub-committee that would investigate the desirability or otherwise of continuing with the Molecular Power System (MPS) oil theft detection system.

He said the setting up of the sub-investigative panel became necessary due to the zero level of recovery recorded so far from the multi-million dollar contract with a retainer-ship fee of $5 million built into it without commensurate results.

The sub-panel was due to the engagement with the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the inquiry on how to minimize and eradicate the incidence of oil theft in Nigeria.

Mr Sada Soli who later stood in for Mr Ado-Doguwa queried whether it was necessary to retain the hard-earned revenue-draining MPS detection system, with no success recorded since its deployment.

He said some powerful lawyers, who were already enjoying the retainer-ship largesse were already putting up stiff resistance.

This according to him is in order not to lose the easy money coming their way faced with the possibility of losing the retainer-ship in case of eventually losing the contract.

Mr Soli also queried the intention behind the Attorney-General’s instruction that the retainer-ship to Nigerian lawyers, practising in Nigeria should be paid in dollars.

A recent report released by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) revealed that Nigeria lost 619 barrels worth 46.16 billion dollars (N16.25trillion) from oil theft in 2022 alone.

NEITI’s audit reports covering a period of 12 years, show that Nigeria loses an average of more than 140,000 barrels of crude oil per day.