Asari Dokubo, former Niger Delta militant, says crude oil belongs to his people and not the whole of Nigeria.
Dokubo said this in an interview on Arise TV while speaking on ways of addressing crude oil theft in the Niger Delta.
“You can’t impoverish a people, you can’t destroy their environment, and expect them to fold their arms and watch. There must be a will to change the narrative in the Niger Delta,” he said.
“But that will is lacking, and we are not able to change this behaviour that the oil belongs to everybody. No, it does not belong to everybody.
“These things are found on the land of the people, and oil production affects the economic activities of these people. It affects the environment. It affects the morale of the people.
“You brought expatriate workers. They do all sorts of things and leave. So, there must be a will to correct these imbalances, these injustices that have been perpetrated in the oil industry. Unless we do this, this story of trying to prevent oil theft will not succeed.”
About 600,000 barrels of crude oil are stolen daily. Nigeria has witnessed high incidence of crude oil theft.
On Tuesday, Mele Kyari, chief executive officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), said an illegal oil connection from Forcados Terminal operated for nine years was recently uncovered.
