Prevalence, Causes and Consequences of Oil Theft in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

Abstract

The mean aim of this paper is to examine the prevalence, causes and consequences of oil theft in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. Niger Delta is a geo-political region with the highest oil and gas production capacity in Nigeria. Oil theft is illegal act of stealing crude oil or refined oil products from pipelines, storage tanks, and other facilities belonging to the government or private oil companies. The study findings show that the problem of oil theft in the Niger Delta region has reached its crescendo and from the casual observers to the stakeholders, everyone agrees that it is a menace that must be tackled head-on. The study findings also observed that not much has been achieved by the Nigerian state in curbing this menace due to a number of reasons including enthroned corruption in the country, high level of youth unemployment in the Niger-Delta, poverty, ineffective and corrupt security agents, and international oil thieves’ collaborations, among others. The paper concludes that, there should be multi-stakeholder approach in solving the problem of oil theft in Niger-Delta oil producing communities. This approach should include effort to tackle poverty, youth unemployment, corruption among security agents and officials of oil regulatory agencies, etc.