The House of Representatives Special Committee on Crude Oil Theft has proposed a review of Nigeria’s laws on crude oil theft to impose tougher penalties on offenders, including the establishment of a special court to fast-track the prosecution of oil thieves and pipeline vandals.
The committee made the proposal on Thursday during a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, where lawmakers, security agencies and other stakeholders discussed measures to tackle crude oil theft and other forms of sabotage in the oil and gas sector.
Alhassan Doguwa, Chairman of the committee, said existing laws prescribing penalties for crude oil theft are outdated and no longer serve as a deterrent to offenders.
According to him, some of the laws still being used were enacted during the military era, leaving courts with little choice but to impose penalties that do not reflect the seriousness of the offences.
“We have been able to achieve some very remarkable progress in the course of our interface. We all agreed to work on the same page to address the existing legal frameworks and some of the bottlenecks affecting them.
