Nigeria: Government to Prosecute over 500 Oil Thieves

Oil stealing otherwise known as "bunkering" or 'illegal bunkering' in some quarters in Nigeria is very prominent in the Niger-Delta region. Gangs most times destroy and tap into pipelines in the creeks and swamps of the Niger-Delta, siphoning off hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day in operations.

Some are always running out of luck and get arrested. Those already arrested are to be prosecuted by Nigeria's government. About 500 people have been detained on allegations of stealing oil, officials said on Thursday in a crackdown on a criminal enterprise that drains up to a fifth of the country's oil output.

The governor of Delta state, Emmanuel Uduaghan, told reporters after a meeting at President Goodluck Jonathan's house that the government was preparing cases for oil theft, which carries a prison sentence of 21 years.

"The resolutions included that a legal task force ... be set up immediately to commence prosecution of proven cases, using relevant laws," Uduaghan said. Finance Minister Okonjo Iweala had earlier siad that an estimated 400,000 barrels a day was lost to theft, or about a fifth of the output of Africa's leading energy producer.

About 90 percent of the stolen fuel is sold onto international markets, to criminal networks in the Balkans or refiners in Singapore, analysts say. The rest is refined for local consumption, filling a gap left by Nigeria's defunct legitimate refineries.

Security forces said on Sunday they had impounded three barges laden with 600,000 litres of illegally refined fuel in the Delta. But enforcement has proven difficult because Nigeria's own žsecurity forces are complicit in the practice.

Residents of the Delta say the lack of development and environmental devastation in the region of mangrove swamps has given many a feeling that they are entitled to help themselves to a share of Nigeria's vast oil wealth.

President Goodluck Jonathan had earlier in the year appealed to foreign buyers to shun stolen oil from Nigeria. His appeal tilted towards labelling stolen oil as 'blood oil' just like in the case of diamond from Sierra Leone. The volatility of the Niger-Delta region is having its effect on the Gulf of Guinea where piracy is on the rise.