This is just as the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla disclosed that over 35 ships involved in oil theft have been arrested and handed over to appropriate prosecuting agencies noting “We re-jigged our operations and established OP Delta Sanity in Jan 2024 and the operation has achieved remarkable successes in curbing oil theft”.
Speaking at the meeting held at Naval headquarters, Abuja, Vice Admiral Ogalla said, “This interaction is very important as it brings together industry regulators, maritime law enforcement as well as industry players to discuss critical issues which are germane to maritime and energy security.
“The development of Nigeria’s energy and gas sectors over the last few decades, has witnessed several complex security challenges including violent agitations, oil theft, pipeline vandalism, piracy/sea robbery, amongst others.
“These are driven by proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons, communal clashes, poverty and unemployment.
“Traditional means of addressing the security challenges have not yielded the desired result.
“This prompted the drive for greater collaboration among stakeholders in the quest for effective development of this Sector.
“Accordingly, this forum seeks to address emerging security issues arising from implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, contemporary trends in maritime security as well as other law enforcement issues which border on maritime and energy security.
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Continuing Ogalla said, “The Federal Government’s drive to develop the nation’s Blue Economy requires support of all stakeholders represented in this meeting.
Furthermore, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has expressed desire to enhance the ease of doing business within the maritime environment as well as the oil and gas sector in order to eradicate poverty in line with the Renewed Hoped Agenda.
“To this end, we need to align our discussions with these strategic level policy directions.
“The NN has sustained her maritime security operations through surveillance, response capability and law enforcement in addition to collaboration with all maritime stakeholders.
“We re-jigged our operations and established OP Delta Sanity in Jan 2024.
“This operation has achieved remarkable successes in curbing oil theft.
“Over 35 ships involved in oil theft have been arrested and handed over to appropriate prosecuting agencies.
“Other measures have also been put in place to curb pipe line vandalism and illegally refining sites.
“The Nigerian Navy will continue to lean on your support especially the oil sector regulators to improve our daily production output for enhanced national revenue and economic prosperity in line with presidential mandates.
While expressing the hope that the deliberations will foster tangible outcomes that would facilitate a more secure maritime environment, the CNS reassured “of the commitment of the Nigerian Navy to the fulfillment of our statutory roles in order to emplace a conducive maritime domain for economic prosperity of our nation.”
In his remarks, the representative of GMD, NNPCL and an Executive Director, Mr Folorunsho Karim commended the Nigerian Navy for securing the maritime domain, fighting against oil theft and ensuring ensuring the environment is conducive for crude oil production to continue to rise.
He stated that with the intensification of the Navy’s operation as promised by the CNS, “Before the end of this year, we are hoping to achieve the 2 million barrels of crude oil production per day target.”
