The Nigerian Navy said on Wednesday that it seized 810,725 metric tonnes of stolen crude in 2016 alone. The service also seized 1,078,104 metric tonnes of illegally-refined diesel last year and destroyed 181 illegal refineries. It also arrested 33 vessels.
The Navy put the financial worth of the seized crude oil and diesel at N420.1billion, excluding the value of vessels, boats and vehicles seized by them.
The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Ibok Ekwe-Ibas, gave the figures at the National Assembly in Abuja when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Navy to defend the NN’s 2017 budget proposals.
The CNS spoke just as the Chairman of the committee, Mr. Abdussamad Dasuki, disclosed that inadequate funding of the NN had resulted in an annual economic loss of N3trillion by the country. The amount is almost half of Nigeria’s 2017 budget estimates of N7.298trillion.