The House of Representatives Special Committee on Crude Oil Theft has proposed the establishment of a special court to prosecute oil thieves and saboteurs, alongside tougher legal sanctions, as part of efforts to curb crude oil theft and protect Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
The committee said crude oil theft continues to undermine Nigeria’s socio-economic development, weaken national security and frustrate efforts to raise crude oil production to budgeted targets.
The proposal emerged during a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the committee to identify practical measures for addressing the persistent challenge of crude oil theft across the country.
Chairman of the committee, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, said tackling crude oil theft requires an urgent review of existing laws, many of which date back to the military era and no longer provide sufficient deterrence against sophisticated criminal networks operating in the sector.
He said the committee’s engagements had produced useful recommendations on strengthening Nigeria’s legal framework.
“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,” Doguwa said.
According to him, Nigeria cannot continue relying on obsolete laws while other oil-producing countries strengthen their legal systems to protect strategic national assets.
“The global oil and gas economy is now in an advanced stage. Virtually all oil-producing countries are making progress because they have provided effective legal instruments to address their challenges. For this reason, we believe Nigeria should also review some of its laws,” he said.
Doguwa clarified that the proposed legal reforms would not affect the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
“Some may ask what happens to the PIA. This has got nothing to do with the PIA. The PIA merely addresses the fundamentals and basic principles of doing business within the global oil economy. None of its commitments or provisions will be affected,” he said.
He explained that several outdated military decrees and old legislations are still being applied by the courts in prosecuting oil-related offences because no modern legal alternatives exist.
“However, we still have old legislations, some dating back to the military era, including military decrees and orders, which are still being applied at various levels. The courts have no option but to rely on those laws.
“Unless we provide new measures, new laws and a new legal framework, the courts will continue to rely on these obsolete legislations in handling serious criminality within Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.”
The lawmaker assured Nigerians that the National Assembly would continue working with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to combat crude oil theft and related crimes.
“I want to assure Nigerians that the National Assembly, especially the House of Representatives through this committee, will partner with the Office of the National Security Adviser to effectively combat crude oil theft and every other criminal activity within the oil and gas environment.
“We must not forget that our daily crude oil production target in the budget remains below expectations. Until we address this problem, our production projections may continue to fall short.”
Doguwa also expressed disappointment over the absence of key regulatory agencies, particularly the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), describing their non-participation as unfortunate and counterproductive.
He stressed that beyond increasing fines and penalties, Nigeria requires institutional reforms, including a dedicated court to handle crude oil theft cases.
“We have also recommended in previous bills before the House the possibility of establishing a special court for these kinds of crimes because the crimes themselves are special.
“If we allow these criminal cases to go through the conventional court system, considering the delays involved, many of them will remain unresolved while the criminals escape appropriate punishment.”
