The claim by Samano SA DE CV, an oil and gas trading company, that some 48 million barrels of crude oil were stolen from Nigeria and shipped to China in 2015 has been described as a case of international cross-border fraudsters trying to dupe Nigeria by getting some kind of compensation in the name of whistle-blowing.

Mike Ozekhome, a senior advocate of Nigeria, who appeared as a guest on Channels TV Sunrise Daily on Monday, explained that the said allegation is baseless and does not add up with his own investigation and analysis of the matter.

“How can anyone claim that 46 million barrels of crude oil left the country for China? Which port did it pass through? Who sold it? Who bought it? And how did it get there? Where is the evidence to substantiate these claims?” he asked.

Recall that SAMANO SA DE CV had recently petitioned the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over what it termed failure of the corporation to pay it whistle-blowing percentage. The oil and gas company demanded a whistle-blower compensation fee of 5 percent, claiming it had in 2015 given the corporation reliable information on massive crude oil theft involving 48 million barrels that it claimed was stored in several ports and terminals in China.

In a July 23, 2020 letter from Lords and Temple titled ‘Formal request for the payment of five per cent whistleblower compensation for information furnished in respect of crude oil stolen from the Federal Republic of Nigeria’, signed by Gboyega Oyewole, SAN, on behalf of Samano SA DE CV, the legal firm said its client was approached in 2015 by a group in China with the intent to sell the stolen crude.

In the letter which was addressed to the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mele Kyari, Lord and Temple said the crude was believed to have been stolen from Nigeria and stored in various ports and terminals in China. However, instead of indulging in the act of buying the stolen crude, the company reported the case to the NNPC.

But despite assurances to its client that investigations into the matter would be made as well as the award of due compensation to its client, the legal firm said, no payment had been made to its client since then.

But speaking on Monday, Ozekhome said the oil and gas trading company’s claims were inconsistent with reality.

“Nigeria’s daily oil production in 2015 when they claim that the said oil theft happened was 1.6 million barrels per day. So, what they are saying is that a whole month of crude oil production left the shores of Nigeria? It’s not possible,” the legal luminary said.

To put in context, Ozekhome explained that the total worth of the 48 million barrels of crude was about $2.5 billion or (N1.2 trillion). Going by the whistle-blowing policy of the country established in 2016, the whistleblower is entitled to 5 percent which is about $125 million.

Converting that with the current exchange rate, that should be around N60 billion of Nigeria’s money, “money that would amount to N1.66 billion if shared among the 36 states of the federation”. Ozhekome said. “It would also be enough to build a big teaching hospital in each state. That’s a case of fraud.”

He said after a careful and painstaking analysis of the claims from both parties, he can categorically say “some international fraudsters are at work”.

The renowned lawyer noted that his records have shown that he is never a fan of the Federal Government, but on this matter, the claims against the government and the NNPC are baseless.

Speaking further, Ozekhome pointed out that even the Chinese government has denied anything of such being in their country.

He noted also that the Federal Government has also sent some delegations to China to investigate the matter, and has also contacted the police and the DSS, but nothing of such ever happened.

Before now, NNPC had, in a response letter signed by its lawyer, Kehinde Ogunwumiju (SAN) of Afe Babalola & Co, denied the claims by Samano SA DE CV, describing it as part of “a gold-digging scheme” aimed at “blackmailing and extorting money from the Federal Government of Nigeria”.

But since the claims by Samano SA DE CV became public, they have generated lots of comments from Nigerians who point to reports from various agencies citing massive oil theft happening in the Nigerian oil sector and its attendant effect on the economy.

One such report in 2018 by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) found that some crude oil and refined products worth $41.9 billion were stolen in Nigeria in the last 10 years.

According to the report, Nigeria lost as much as $38.5 billion to crude theft, $1.56 billion to domestic crude and $1.8bn to refined petroleum products.

This comes at a daily average of $11 million, a monthly average of $394 million, and an annual average of $4.2 billion, NEITI said.

In another separate report by Chatham House in 2013, titled ‘Nigeria’s Criminal Crude Report’, Nigerian crude oil is being stolen on an industrial scale. Some of what is stolen is exported.

The research house also noted that proceeds are laundered through world financial centres and used to buy assets in and outside Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Ivie Richards, an activist and executive director of Corruption Observatory, who was also on the Channels TV programme on Monday, took a different view from Ozhekome.

Richards raised some salient points of concern, noting that the NNPC took a long time to inform the anti-graft agency on the matter.

According to him, the NNPC is neither an intelligent nor an anti-graft agency, but it never deemed it fit to contact the anti-graft agency so they could immediately check the veracity or otherwise of the claims.

Richards said the NNPC claimed it did its assessment of the matter and found that it was not true, yet failed to communicate to the anti-graft agency until pressures started coming from the whistleblowers.

He also noted that virtually all those named in the deal are still very much alive, yet not much investigation is being done on them.

“All this should not be an issue since we have the president who is the petroleum minister and has the power to summon anybody or agency,” he said.

When asked of the possibility of the theft happening, Richard noted, “In this country, anything can happen; hence, it is not impossible.”