The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has bemoaned the lack of effective actions at curtailing crude oil theft in Nigeria.
Speaking at the 2024 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, who was a former Nigeria’s finance minister, stated that there are enough technological innovations to track crude oil theft and bring those behind the act to justice in Nigeria.
She said that those responsible for stopping the “intolerable” action of crude oil theft no longer have excuses.
In her keynote address titled, ‘A Social Contract For Nigeria’s Future’, Okonjo-Iweala said, “A second aspect of security relates to the security of national assets. Nigerians have seen for years how organised crude oil theft on a massive scale seriously undermines the economic and financial health of the country.
“All Nigerians must agree that stealing of our national assets of any type is intolerable and must be stopped.”
According to her, oil theft has hampered the strengthening of the foreign reserves and that there is so much technology available now to track such theft and there must be no more excuses for inaction.
She urged politicians in Nigeria to stop weaponising insecurity against their opposition in office.
“We cannot have socio-economic development without security. We certainly cannot have security without development.
“We all know that security has been weaponised in our country for political purposes by political actors, leading partly to the situation we have now.
“We have politicians who believe that the best way to make their opponents look bad is to instigate insecurity making it look like they can’t govern, regardless of whether this leads to loss of lives and property of innocent Nigerians. This has to stop,” local media reports quoted the WTO chief as saying.
