Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Bayo Ojulari, has said that international syndicates are involved in crude oil theft.

The NNPC chief spoke yesterday at the 2025 African Chiefs of Defence Staff Summit. Ojulari said security forms a key pillar of the energy business and therefore, plays a very important and strategic role in achieving national, regional, continental, energy and security.

“We have seen the benefits of the collaboration within the security space with significant improvements in our operating environment,” he said. “The dilapidating impact of crude theft, low pipeline availability, and attacks are issues that are becoming stories of the past for us.

“And this has come from the immense and intentional efforts of our government security and intelligence agencies across the nation and in particular within the Niger Delta.” The NNPC GCEO said crude theft and its attendant illegal activities “are by no means a purely localised occurrence”.

Rather, Ojulari said these operations involve sophisticated international syndicates that take advantage of gaps within the state’s national, regional, and continental security architecture to conduct their illicit activities.

“It is therefore imperative that forums such as these are encouraged with a view to strengthening strategic, tactical, and operational activities within the continent,” he said. Ojulari added that Africa must take its destiny into its hands and “chart a collective way forward that meets the goals and aspirations of our people”.