The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) has called for the establishment of a special court for the trial of arrested oil thieves and vandals in the oil sector.
The Director of Investigation, EFCC, Mr Abdulkarim Chukkol, made this call during an investigative hearing by the House of Representatives special committee on crude oil theft in Abuja.
He said that the commission filed over four hundred cases in court in 2019 and over two hundred cases in 2022 and counting.
He noted that it won’t be fair for the EFCC to have an accurate number of people charged to court already as the number varies from time to time.
He also responded with a resounding “yes“, when asked if the agency requires a special court to try offenders.
He added that the commission is also deploying more advanced technology in dealing with crude oil theft.
“We are dealing with offenders, definitely we can not just tell them the software we are using. But all I want to say is that we are deploying technology in dealing with this. At the intelligence level, at the investigative level, and even at the level of prosecution” Mr Chukkol said.
When asked how many people EFCC has convicted so far, the Chief of Staff to the EFCC chairman, Mr. Micheal Nzekwe, said “We would like to have an improvement on our legal framework as it currently is. There are oil theft cases that have gone on for over ten years, some much longer than that. Sometimes from the court of first instance, you see it running to the Court of Appeal and then Supreme Court. This also affects a lot in the conclusion of the cases”.
He explained that the creation of a special court, along with amendments to the legal framework governing the EFCC, would significantly enhance the agency’s ability to combat crude oil theft.
Also responding to issues raised against the Niger Delta Development Commission, the Director Rural and Community Development, Mr. Jonathan Alagoa, said that the commission through massive road construction has helped in curbing oil theft in the Niger Delta region.
The chairman of the special committee, Mr. Alhassan Ado Doguwa said that more work needs to be done to end crude oil theft and other economic sabotage in Nigeria.
Emmanuel Ukoh
