A forum of former foreign affairs ministers and diplomats under the aegis of the
The academy, purely established for open and private debate on the emerging new world order, also described as a big shame, the federal government's decision to award pipeline surveillance contract to
In a statement by its President and former Minister of External Affairs, Prof.
It also observed that the opaque subsidy regime on oil imports and the volume of daily consumption of the same had equally become yet another scandal in
Given the antecedents of such private interests in insurgency and militancy in the
On these grounds, the academy implored the Minister of
It specifically challenged the president, "to institute a Judicial
It justified the institution of judicial commission of inquiry on the need, "to unearth the causes of oil thefts, prosecute the culprits and put an end to the scandals to rekindle
"It is also disheartening to learn that illegal oil bunkering has been going on for a long time under the watch of government officials including many of the security personnel that are charged with guarding the most vital source of revenue earnings of this country."
The academy alleged that some foreign oil companies whose pipelines had been tapped and vandalised between their production fields to their export terminals, had also been involved in the oil scandals.
It also claimed that such oil multinationals often connived with the criminals by keeping mute as the Nigerian oil, "is being illegally bunkered and shipped away for sale in the international market: the proceeds of which are laundered in international financial institutions and banks particularly in tax free havens."
The academy cited investigations carried out by reputable organisations including the past Report of
Due to oil thefts by terrible cartels, it observed that
It further observed that the most troubling aspect of the situation was that despite the presence of armed security personnel, including the army, navy, police, security and civil defense, customs and others, apart from the NNPC, oil thefts had been going on with reckless abandon.
It rhetorically asked: "Is it not a big shame that a private company,
"Certainly this sophisticated 4-kilometre pipeline discovered by Tompolo and other pipelines around the oil producing areas in the
"Is it not nerve-racking that the Ministers of
It explained how late President
It further reflected on how the late president termed the illegal oil proceeds, "blood money" at the assembly of global leaders while he called for concerted international support and action against this criminal conspiracy and fraud against
Likewise, the academy lamented the impact of the oil theft on the country's diplomatic and foreign relations, which it claimed, had culminated in the closure of diplomatic missions abroad, especially at the time
It said the country's diplomatic missions, "abroad are being financed in foreign currencies. Unfortunately, each time our foreign reserves dwindled, there is always the misguided tendency of shutting down some of our diplomatic missions.
"This is exemplified by the recent actions of the federal government, which has just set up another committee to consider reducing among other things the number for diplomatic missions abroad.
"Such actions are counterproductive to promoting and projecting our national interest, impede our voice from being effectively heard globally, and hamper our quest to being a permanent member of the
"There are many sources of leakages in the economy such as financial frauds by certain government officials, in addition to oil thefts and illegal bunkering that should be tackled frontally instead of focusing on reducing, instead of strengthening, our diplomatic missions abroad," the academy suggested."
With former Director General,
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