On Saturday morning, December 1, Fisayo Soyombo, the founder of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), shared startling revelations about oil bunkering in Nigeria during his first interview after being released from detention.
Soyombo, speaking on Arise TV, explained that he had been conducting an undercover investigation when he was arrested. He described the high level of protection that illegal oil bunkerers receive in the country.
“It would shock you the kind of people who escort illegal oil bunkerers out of Port-Harcourt,” Soyombo said.
He also accused the Nigerian Army of compromising his security by publicly revealing information about his investigation. “The Army spokesman already compromised my security by going online to say that they found illegal bunkerers,” he added.
Soyombo pointed out that while there are honest military officers, there are also saboteurs who enable oil bunkering to flourish. “There are clean men in the military, but we need to clean up the saboteurs who enable oil bunkerers to thrive,” he said.
He reflected on the challenges of his work, stating, “This is a new level for me that I need to do it. Rather than change my approach, I will rather stop. Maybe I have one, two, three undercover investigations and I will stop.”
Soyombo emphasized the importance of exposing corruption and crime, stating, “It’s not the fun of it but the situations we found ourselves in. Imagine the story I did on smugglers. People have to know that in their country they can be safe, and we need to expose these wrongdoings.”
He also revealed that the reported figures of crude oil theft in Nigeria are vastly underestimated. “The crude we were to move was for 50,000 barrels. If the man who got annoyed that he wasn’t bribed didn’t talk, we would have had two trucks moved out.”
Soyombo concluded by criticizing the oversight bodies, saying, “There is no institution that can say for a fact the barrels being lifted daily. It is not only oil bunkerers that are thieves but those who are also meant to supervise the sector. What we would need is an overhaul of the system.”
