The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has sought for the establishment of a Special Court to prosecute suspected crude oil thieves and other crimes in the oil and gas sector.
Top officials of the EFCC made the call for the legal framework on Wednesday during their appearances at the investigative hearing of the House of Representatives Special Committee investigating ‘Crude Oil Theft and other Losses.
In his presentation, the Chief of Staff to the EFCC Chairman, Michael Nzekwe, said the Commission is facing challenges of delayed prosecution of suspects in courts, saying there is the need for a special court for speedy prosecution of suspected oil thieves.
Nzekwe added that the anti-graft agency had filed hundreds of cases in various courts, but only a negligible number were adequately prosecuted and the suspects convicted while a larger number are still ongoing and fresh ones being filed.
According to him, the bottlenecks hindering the speedy prosecution of cases led to pending cases in courts especially across the Niger Delta region where the crimes are being perpetrated while arrests are being made on a daily basis.
Speaking in the same vein, the EFCC’s Director of Investigation, Abdulkareem Chukkol, said the EFCC commands in the Niger Delta have a section that deals with hundreds of complaints that have to do with oil related crimes daily.
According to him, over 400 cases have been taken to courts by the EFCC in 2019 alone while over 200 cases were filed in 2022.
But Chukkol stated that some of the cases being brought to the EFCC were also referred to sister agencies.
Responding to a question by a member of the Committee, Rep. Gambo Leko, Chukkol informed the lawmakers that the EFCC hardly withdrew cases but quickly appealed when there was a judgement against it or a ‘Stay of Execution’ on the case.
Answering questions about the utilisation of funds recovered, Chukkol said he did not have the full information at the time, but promised that the agency would provide all the details to the committee.
He however noted that President Bola Tinubu had in his national broadcast to Nigerians during the recent hardship protests, disclosed that he had directed the release of about N100billion from the recoveries made by the EFCC.
But Hon Sada Soli Jibiya, who sit-in briefly for the Chairman of the Committee, Hon Alhassan Ado Doguwa, said that recoveries must be made public for Nigerians to know because they had been captured in the budget.
The Chairman of the Committee, Hon Doguwa, had earlier reminded the agencies that the main aim of the investigation is to find a way for all stakeholders to forge a common front to fight the menace of oil theft in the country.
He said the country could not continue with the serious challenges of oil theft in the sector, adding that stakeholders and the government had to come to the table to address the problems.
According to him, if the leakages are tackled, it will help increase production and revenue to run the affairs of the government.
Doguwa also emphasised that the government had the political will to address the problems of oil theft but it was being handicapped by the years of the rot in the oil and gas sector.
He said the investigation is to find ways to mitigate the effects of the oil theft and other criminalities in the sector by getting the best information from stakeholders.
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