Senate President Ahmad Lawan has appealed to security agencies and the judiciary to give expeditious consideration to cases involving suspected crude oil theft in the country.

“We want to see trials of people who are caught because, when this happens, citizens will know that nobody, no matter how high that person is, can go scot-free if he or she decides to get involved in this kind of criminal activity,” Mr Lawan said.

He added, “It is not enough to just take away whatever they have stolen and say go and sin no more.”

He was speaking during a meeting with heads of security agencies on Monday in Abuja, a follow-up to the August 3 engagement on the security situation in the country.

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Mr Lawan said oil thefts were part of the issues threatening Nigeria’s stability, noting that Nigeria had lost so much of its crude oil.

According to him, at the last count, a report showed that the nation exported just a little above 900,000 barrels of crude oil.

“That is just about 50 per cent. It is supposed to be 1.8 million barrels per day, and that is having our revenues and resources for development.

“I want to appeal to the judiciary to give special consideration. Once an oil thief is taken to court, we must prosecute them.

Mr Lawan also commended the armed forces and other security agencies for the current improved security situation in the country.

“When Mr President spoke of ensuring that we return to normalcy by December 2022, l am sure he had in mind what the armed forces are doing recently.

“I believe the armed forces and other security agencies have everything in terms of moral and determination, but we still have to give moral support,” he said.

The meeting, which later went into a closed-door session, had in attendance all the service chiefs, including the comptroller-general of the Nigeria Immigration Services, among others.

(NAN)