CAPTAIN CRUSADER VS THE BUNKERING BANDITS: NAVAL

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 LAGOS 000011

SIPDIS

NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DNG: CO 01/05/2014
TAGS: EPET PINR PINS MOPS PGOV EINV ASEC NI
SUBJECT: CAPTAIN CRUSADER VS THE BUNKERING BANDITS: NAVAL
COMMANDER DESCRIBES HIS NIGER DELTA MISSION

REF: A. LAGOS 2579

B. ABUJA 718

C. ABUJA 1061

D. ABUJA NI 704

E. ABUJA NI 1445

F. ABUJA NI 1318

Classified By: ROBYN HINSON-JONES FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D)


1. (S N/F) SUMMARY: Captain O.B. Ogunjimi, commander of the
Naval base in the heart of Nigeria's oil-rich but troubled
Delta region, recently described to ConGen Officers his
experiences fighting oil thieves in the Delta. According to
Ogunjimi, corruption within his command is not as rampant as
generally believed, the Nigerian Navy is effectively
countering illegal bunkering, and security forces are
pursuing oil theft "cartels" operating in the Delta. END
SUMMARY.


2. (S N/F) On December 10 in Lagos, ConGen Officers met with
Captain Olufemi ("Femi") Ogunjimi, Commanding Officer (CO) of
Nigerian Naval Station Delta (NNS Delta),headquartered in
Warri, Delta State (ref A). It is widely held that past
commanders of the Warri Naval base may have been complicit in
illegal activities and given the job as a perk to personally
profit from the posting, but Ogunjimi willingly discussed his
tour of duty in command of Warri, and in particular, his
efforts to combat illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta.

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Commanding Warri
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3. (S N/F) Captain Ogunjimi took command of NNS Delta in
April 2003, just after the outbreak of ethnic violence that
left scores dead and shut down 40 percent of Nigeria's crude
oil output (ref B),and before President Obasanjo declared
curbing oil theft, or illegal bunkering, a national priority.
(In June 2003, after Shell Oil placed newspaper ads claiming
it was losing 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to
thieves (ref C),the Obasanjo Administration made action
against illegal bunkering a cornerstone of its policy in the
Delta.) Ogunjimi said he commands about 600 men at the NNS
Delta, some 100 of whom are deployed at the Escravos oil
terminal and tank farm operated by Chevron. The most
significant assets at his disposal are two 180-foot patrol
vessels, which were formerly U.S. Coast Guard buoy tenders
donated by the USG in 2003. (A third is based in Lagos.)
Ogunjimi said these vessels generally patrol the littoral
areas of the Delta, have small caliber automatic weapons
mounted on deck, and carry a crew of 55, including sailors
capable of engaging in interdiction and hostage rescue
missions. Ogunjimi noted a complement of smaller vessels at
his command, which he said are frequently in a state of
disrepair.

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Main Mission: Stop Illegal Bunkering
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4. (S N/F) Captain Ogunjimi described his chief mission in
the Delta: curbing illegal bunkering. Considered a known
secret for years (ref D),in early summer 2003 government and

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oil company officials began talking openly about the problem,
and estimates of the country's crude oil loss from theft
ranged as high as 300,000 bpd. (Nigeria's crude production
reached 2.2 million bpd in November 2003.) Joint Task Force
(JTF) Operation Restore Hope was called up in August to quell
ongoing ethnic clashes and to curb the theft of oil (ref E).
A Shell security official told Econoff that as of mid October
the company's crude loss due to theft had been sharply
reduced as a result of Operation Restore Hope, at times to as
low as 40,000 bpd.

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Cartels and Mules
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5. (S N/F) Captain Ogunjimi likened illegal oil bunkering in
Nigeria to the drug trade in countries like Colombia (ref F).
He said cartels have formed in the Delta, and each has carved
out a territory the others generally respect. Ogunjimi's
description of the typical bunkering operation is consistent
with past reports (ref E). According to the Captain, a
tanker ("mother ship") anchors approximately 50 miles
offshore during daylight to avoid being spotted by Navy
coastal patrols. Arrangements are made for villagers to tap
into the Delta's vast network of pipelines, usually in the
swamps, and fill small oil barges. At nightfall the mother
ship moves closer to shore, where the barges are pulled
alongside and the crude is transferred, allowing the tanker
to slip away without detection.


6. (S N/F) Ogunjimi said that since his goal is to break
these cartels, he has implemented night patrols to intercept
illegal transfers of oil from barge to tanker. Ogunjimi said
he is not interested in pursuing the "loaders" of the crude
-- usually young villagers who cannot resist the money
offered to tap pipelines and fill barges. Ogunjimi estimated
that 90 percent of Delta locals involved in illegal bunkering
are Ijaw; the remaining 10 percent are a mix of other ethnic
groups, including Yoruba and Igbo from outside the Warri area.


7. (SBU) Note: Ijaw youth leaders told Mission staff in
October that many of the villagers who are hired for illegal
bunkering do not consider what they do a crime but rather a
business. According to the Ijaw leaders, this belief is
supported by the fact that the villagers are hired by
"powerful men from Abuja"; they have easy access to pipelines
often with the complicity of oil company employees; and the
security forces in the swamps are told -- or paid -- to look
the other way. Last year, a pilot contracted to Chevron
emphatically told CG that it is easy to spot illegal
bunkering from small planes; what is lacking is the will to
take action to stop it. End Note.

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In Defense of His Mission and His Men
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8. (S N/F) Captain Ogunjimi said many people in the public at
large, the government, and even within the ranks of the Navy,
do not understand the complexity of oil-related activities in
the Delta. According to him, their ignorance leads to wrong
impressions of the Navy's effort in the region, including
incorrect accusations of wrongdoing. (A widely repeated
explanation of what sparked the particularly bloody ethnic
clashes in March 2003 is that, after a disagreement between
an oil baron and a corrupt Navy officer over the movement of
stolen oil, Navy forces and the Ijaw militia of the oil baron
engaged in a series of skirmishes. The Ijaw then attacked
villages of Itsekiri, with whom the Ijaw have had a
long-standing dispute over political and territorial
boundaries.)


9. (S N/F) Illustrating his point about misconceptions,
Ogunjimi said some 20 ships pull into the Escravos River and
its tributaries each week to transfer petroleum products
legally. Bona fide traders register with the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),he said, which gives
Ogunjimi's headquarters a weekly listing of ships that will
moor in the Delta to transfer cargo. Ogunjimi said he uses
those lists to identify illegal bunkerers; any ship taking on
crude that is not on the weekly NNPC list will be boarded and
seized. Ogunjimi is aware of the allegation that the Navy
facilitates illegal bunkering by looking the other way when
paid to do so, and by seizing cargoes of those unwilling to
pay bribes or who are the enemy of a powerful cartel;
however, he maintained this is simply an incorrect inference.
People who don't know the system jump to wrong conclusions,
he said, when they see some ships coming and going without
Navy interference (ships on the NNPC list),while other ships
are boarded and seized (ships not on the list).


10. (S N/F) Ogunjimi claimed that oil company employees
facilitate illegal bunkering. He said there is no other
explanation for the ease in which pipelines or flow stations
are tapped. Without assistance, the Captain said, simple men
from fishing villages would have no way of knowing which of
the many pipes crisscrossing the Delta carry crude, diesel,
gas or water. Ogunjimi also echoed the allegation of Ijaw
youth leaders that oil company employees are so directly
involved in illegal bunkering that pilfering barges are often
brought directly to manifolds and spigots to obtain oil; no
vandalizing of pipelines is required.

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Catch and (Sometimes) Release
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11. (S N/F) Captain Ogunjimi claimed that his command had
seized 10 ships involved in illegal oil transfers in eight
months. He said the powers-that-be in Nigerian government
pay close attention to his work. For example, Ogunjimi noted
that when his men seize a vessel, he reports first to the
Naval Chief of Staff in Abuja, and then to his commanding
officer, Rear Admiral Antonio Ibinabo Bob-Manuel in Lagos.
Ogunjimi said that after bringing the first three vessels
seized under his command to NNS Delta, he was subjected to
intense political pressure locally to release them. He said
he was offered bribes and was threatened. That experience,
he said, taught him to immediately move to Lagos any ship he
seizes in the Delta, which lessens the political pressure and
intimidation he and his officers must endure. According to
Ogunjimi, of 10 ships recently seized, three remain moored at
his base in Warri, five were transferred to Lagos and two
were released.


12. (S N/F) The Captain described one occasion on which he
claimed he was ordered by superiors to release a vessel. He
said his men seized the tanker British Progress (carrying a
British crew) about the time of the seizure of the Russian
tanker African Pride. Within days, he was ordered to release
the vessel and crew on the grounds that it was an NNPC ship
authorized to take oil. When Econoff suggested it was
strange that the NNPC would load a ship offshore from barges
in the middle of the night as the Captain had described,
Ogunjimi smiled and said, "That is what I was told, and I
received orders to release it."

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The Russians
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13. (S N/F) In mid-October, Nigerian news outlets carried
headlines that the ship African Pride, with a largely Russian
crew, had been caught in the Delta loading crude illegally.
Ogunjimi said the ship was seized in a night raid. The
Captain said the ship and crew (including two Georgians and a
Romanian) were transferred to Lagos, where prosecutors
publicly stated that charges would be filed. Ogunjimi would
not or could not say who leased the ship, but disclosed that
the cargo belonged to a Nigerian. The African Pride, he
noted, remains anchored just offshore of Lagos, with the crew
still confined onboard.

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Can the Effort be Maintained?
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14. (S N/F) COMMENT. Captain Ogunjimi may be sincere when he
says GON security forces want to break the illegal bunkering
cartels, rather than simply arrest villagers hired to tap
pipelines, and his efforts do appear to have reduced the
volume of oil stolen from the Niger Delta. But will
Ogunjimi's stated strategy of pursuing the ships that
transport oil away from the Delta remain effective over time?
Ogunjimi's efforts are only one step up the "cartel" supply
chain. The GON does not appear to be targeting the financial
backers of the illegal trade, although the refrain that
"everyone knows who they are" is often repeated in the Delta.
Ogunjimi himself noted that "they (cartels) are always coming
up with new ways to get around us." And even if Ogunjimi is
as honest as he appears to be, there is no guarantee that his
replacement, due in mid-January 2004, will be equally so. END
COMMENT.
HINSON-JONES