THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is advocating for the creation of a special court to try cases of crude oil theft.
The Director of Investigation of the commission, Abdulkarim Chukkol, made this known during the investigative hearing of the House of Representatives special committee on crude oil theft in Abuja yesterday.
He said over 400 cases were charged to court in 2019, with 200 others prosecuted in 2022.
Chukkol believes that a special court and amendment of the legal framework of the agency would help EFCC in addressing crude oil theft.
Earlier in June, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, while calling for the support of the judiciary in tackling the twin challenges of crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism, also recommended special courts to be created for the offence.
Kyari made the call at the National Judges Capacity Building Workshop on the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 organised by the National Judicial Institute (NJI) and INVESTIN 234. In a goodwill message he delivered at the workshop, the GCEO stated that the gains of the PIA have been severely undermined by crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism, and urged the judiciary to consider the creation of a special court to try offences related to crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism or granting accelerated hearings to such cases.
According to him, the role of the judiciary was critical to the success of the efforts of the various security arrangements put in place by NNPC, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders in the industry.
“In particular, is the recommendation that a special court be created to try those offences as they hinge on our survival as a country, and/or for such trials to be conducted under an accelerated hearing process by the issuance of Practice Directions to that effect, with concomitant sanctions to deter would-be offenders,” Kyari stated.
