Bunkering: Brand stolen crude as blood crude – Sen. Dickson
The senator representing Bayelsa West Senatorial District, Sen. Henry Seriake Dickson, has called on the international community to brand crude oil stolen from Nigeria as “Blood Crude”.
He said this would effectively checkmate the ability of oil thieves to sell their merchandise in the international market, just as it did with “Blood Diamond” in war-torn Liberia and Sierra Leone, when it became clear that the demand for Liberia’s diamond in the international market was a major reason fueling the civil wars in both countries in the early 1990s.
Dickson who was guest of The Morning Show, a flagship programme of The Arise News television, Tuesday morning, reasoned that putting a tag of Blood Crude on such stolen crude oil would be a major move against the menace of illegal bunkering in Nigeria.
According to him if such crude is so branded and discouraged from seamlessly entering the international market, the demand side of the illegal crude enterprise would have been checkmated. This would in turn, remove the incentive to supply, and effectively cripple the illegal bunkering going on in the Niger Delta.
Dickson, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Climate Change and also sits on the committee on defence says the ripple effect of this singular move would in the de-escalation of the cultism, killings, communal clashes and general insecurity in the Niger Delta region.
Restating his earlier position that illegal bunkering was a big racket superintended by big players outside the Niger Delta, said the major beneficiaries were big businesses in big cities in Nigeria and outside the shores of the country.
While condemning the role of youths of the Niger Delta areas who serve as ready foot soldiers, the Senator said the big masquerades behind the criminal business, who can afford the sophisticated equipment and machinery need for the scale of illegal bunkering going on in Nigeria are deep-pocket persons with links in military, government and the international systems.