The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Bashir Ojulari, said on Monday crude oil theft across Africa is being driven by highly organised international and continental criminal networks exploiting security vulnerabilities.
Ojulari made the remarks at the opening session of the Africa Chiefs of Defence Staff Conference in Abuja,.
He stressed that the menace cannot be viewed as a purely domestic challenge but as a sophisticated transnational operation requiring coordinated regional responses.
“Crude theft and its attendant illegal activities are by no means a purely localised occurrence,” he stated. “
These operations involve specialised international syndicates that take advantage of gaps within state, national, and continental security architecture to conduct illegal activities.”
The NNPC chief noted that pipeline vandalism and oil theft in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region have long been entrenched, though ongoing security interventions have reduced the scale of the problem. He underscored the centrality of security to the energy sector, describing it as “a key pillar of the energy business and therefore a strategic component in achieving national, regional, and continental energy security goals.”
Ojulari added that as head of Africa’s largest national oil company, he has witnessed the positive impact of collaborative initiatives within the energy space, which, according to him, have led to significant improvements in the operating environment.
