The Nigerian Navy says it confiscated crude oil and diesel worth N420billion in 2016 from suspected illegal oil smugglers.
The Chief of the Naval Staff, (CNS) Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, made the disclosure during the 2017 budget defence session with the House of Representatives Committee on Navy.
Vice Admiral Ibas who presented an operational scorecard of the Service for 2016 about 810,725 metric tons of crude oil and 1,078 metric tons of diesel were seized during operations.
The Naval Chief revealed that the Nigerian Navy destroyed 181 illegal refineries, 263 wooden boats, 38 barges, 139 Geepee tanks, 148 pumping machines, arrested 784 suspects, 22 crude vessels, 53 wooden boats, 145 outboard engines, 135 speed boats, 27 tankers, seized 2,974 drums and recovered 468 arms, 1,659 ammunitions during the period.
According to him, Nigerian Navy confiscated 210 storage tanks, 47 vehicles, 15 motorcycles, 4,753 jerrycans, 27 power generating sets, 224 surface tanks, 24 hoses, 17 welding machines and 33 other vessels, reiterating that the feat was despite the reduction in overhead with only N2.5bn released out of about N3.4bn appropriated in 2016.
He said out of the N56.463 billion appropriated for personnel cost in 2016, N49.656bn was released, while the sum of N205.879 million was generated as Internally Generated Revenue and remitted to government via the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
He said the Navy plans to spend about N26.446 billion on capital projects with the priority areas listed as fleet renewal, operational infrastructure upgrade, operational logistics procurement, capacity development and personnel welfare.
Earlier, the Chairman House Committee on Navy Hon. Abdulsamad Dasuki commended the Navy for its performance despite insufficient funding and other operational challenges, promising that the committee would ensure adequate allocation of fund for the maintenance and fuelling of Nigerian Navy platforms.
The Chairman, however, observed that an estimated N3 trillion ($10bn) was lost in revenue due to the Navy’s inability to forestall criminalities in the Niger Delta region, reiterating that the Navy’s budgetary allocations must be realistic.
