Chairman of Heir Holdings and UBA Plc, has said the Federal Government and security agencies should reveal the identities of those stealing the country’s crude oil.
Elumelu said this in an interview published by the Financial Times (FT) on Friday.
The businessman, and founder of Heirs Energies, an upstream oil and gas company, said oil theft contributed to the divestment of international oil companies in Nigeria.
“Who is behind the theft, I ask. It’s a question that has confounded many Nigerians,” he was quoted as saying.
“This is oil theft, we’re not talking about stealing a bottle of Coke you can put in your pocket.
“The government should know, they should tell us. Look at America — Donald Trump was shot at and quickly they knew the background of who shot him. Our security agencies should tell us who is stealing our oil. You bring vessels to our territorial waters and we don’t know?”
In 2010, Elumelu formed Heirs Holdings, an investment company.
In 2021, the business tycoon bought a 45 percent stake in oil mining lease (OML) 17.
Speaking to FT on buying an oil asset in an age of energy transition, Elumelu said the company wanted to become a Fortune 500 company and “we estimated what we needed”.
“It’s not naira, it’s huge dollars. Energy security is crucial for a country that doesn’t produce enough electricity for its roughly 200mn citizens,” he said.
