Nigerian businessman, Tony Elumelu, has revealed how former President Muhammadu Buhari and his late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, blocked the oil field he intended to acquire during the former president’s administration.
This is even as he challenged the federal government to fish out Nigeria’s crude oil thieves.
Elumelu who stated these in an interview published by the Financial Times on Friday, August 9, noted that crude oil theft had led to the exit of many international oil companies from Nigeria.
He revealed that his firm, Heirs Holdings, had been pursuing the purchase of an oilfield since 2017, after raising $2.5 billion to acquire a different one.
However, in what he described as a shocking turn of events, Elumelu claimed that Buhari and the late Kyari blocked the deal.
He was told that Nigeria could not allow something of such strategic importance to fall into the hands of a private operator.
“This defied logic,” he added since, according to him, the purchase would have been from a foreign company.
Elumelu stated that his decision to acquire a 45 per cent stake in an oilfield three years ago, when international oil companies like Shell, Total, and Eni were offloading their shallow water assets in Nigeria, was motivated by a desire to secure the country’s energy future amid ongoing power shortages.
“We wanted to become a Fortune 500 company and we estimated what we needed. It’s not naira, it’s huge dollars. Energy security is crucial for a country that doesn’t produce enough electricity for its roughly 200 million citizens,” he added.
Fielding questions on oil theft, he said oil thieves continued to siphon 18 per cent of crude from his field. “42,000 barrels of crude pumped out daily. Theft still takes away about 18 per cent of production,” he stated.
When asked who was responsible for the theft, he responded, “This is oil theft. We’re not talking about stealing a bottle of Coke you can put in your pocket. The government should know, they should tell us. Look at America — Donald Trump was shot at and quickly they knew the background of who shot him. Our security agencies should tell us who is stealing our oil. You bring vessels to our territorial waters and we don’t know?”
He recounted how he discovered firsthand why oil companies operating in Nigeria were partially divesting from onshore assets after criminal gangs began to steal crude from his pipelines.
Speaking on how citizens emigrate from the country in what is known locally as ‘japa’, Elumelu stated, “I support it, totally. I don’t have a problem with people saying ‘I’m going to Canada, UK or US.’
“Joblessness is the betrayal of a generation. You’ve gone to school and come back with your dreams and aspirations and you don’t have the opportunity. For people who decide to find solutions elsewhere, no one should stop them. But for those who decide to stay, they should try to create an impact and build a legacy.”
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.