Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has tasked the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to ask questions from the Federal Government on how hundreds of barrels of crude oil are allegedly stolen without check, on a daily basis.

Speaking at the ground breaking of the Labour House in Benin City, Oshiomhole said Nigeria was being run in a directionless manner and the labour movement must show more interest in the national discourse so that the ship of state could be steered in the right direction.

“Issues of the management of the treasury, issues of oil theft are not the preserve of the political class. Oil is being stolen. Nigeria has a capacity for 2.5 million barrels a day. We have oil performing on an average of $108 a barrel over the past few years; it has hovered on that average. Sometime, it went to $111, at a time it dropped to $106 per barrel.

“Oil performance has been stable and we budget at $98, with the difference over a period of three years; we ought to have huge reserves now, so that when occasion like this comes, we will live as if there is no fluctuation. But while this was going on, we suddenly heard of crude oil theft, sometimes about 700 barrels per day is allegedly stolen. Seven hundred barrels per day, these are big vessels.

“I think the NLC needs to show more interest in this politics of oil theft. Who are the people stealing this oil? Since when? What has changed about the territorial boundaries of Nigeria? In good times, we were told this thing is being stolen and in bad times, we are told to fasten our belt.”