Nigeria is to charge 23 people with oil theft after the country’s navy intercepted two ships carrying large quantities of oil and refined fuel at the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

The suspects are 11 Nigerians, 2 Ghanaians and 10 Indians who will be charged by the authorities following the successful captures of two ships – the Mt Akshay and the Mt Eve by the Nigerian naval force at the close of 2012.

‘’The navy HQ has directed that MT Akshay with its cargo and the suspects onboard should be over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC for further investigation and prosecution”, the naval central commander Admiral Johnson Olutoyin told reporters.

Officials say the intercepted 158,000 and 75,000 litres respect of crude oil in the two ships and believe that they were illegal oil stolen by the suspects.

The move to bring oil thieves to justice before the authorities sees Nigeria step up attempts to tackle the problem of oil theft increasingly plaguing the country and private companies operating in the region.

It is estimated that approximately 180,000 of barrels of oil per day are stolen in Nigeria with oil thieves also causing substantial infrastructural damage to companies operating pipelines and performing drilling activities in the region.

In addition to the financial cost of the damage caused by criminals, the environment particularly in the Niger Delta region has been negatively affected by repeated oil spills caused by oil thieves attempting to siphon off reserves.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s Finance Minister has spoken up putting the amount of oil lost to oil thieves at one fifth of the country’s total output.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency has estimated that Nigeria loses closes to $7 billion annually due to oil thefts.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News