File: House of Representatives
The House of Representatives Special Committee on Crude Oil Theft has called for the establishment of a special court to fast-track the prosecution of crude oil thieves and other economic saboteurs, saying weak laws and delays in the judicial process have continued to undermine efforts to curb oil theft in Nigeria.
The proposal was made at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja on Thursday, where lawmakers, security agencies and officials from the Office of the National Security Adviser reviewed the country’s legal framework for tackling crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and related offences.
The meeting forms part of the committee’s ongoing consultations on legislative and institutional measures to address crude oil theft, which has continued to reduce government revenue, cut oil production, discourage investment and threaten Nigeria’s energy security despite years of security operations.
Chairman of the committee, Alhassan Doguwa, said participants agreed on the need to review existing laws, arguing that many of the statutes governing the sector date back to the military era and no longer provide adequate deterrence against increasingly sophisticated criminal networks.
