Who Owns Nigeria’s Oil – Citizens or Cartels?

Who Owns Nigeria’s Oil – Citizens or Cartels?

By SAGMA, the Convener of TNNRM

Nigerians are being told the unspeakable truth—not by foreign investigators, not by whistleblowers in London, but right here at home by our own Senator Shuaibu Gobir.

He alleged that Nigeria’s crude oil—our lifeline, our inheritance, our only reliable foreign exchange—has been treated like pocket change for elites in high office and their foreign accomplices. Even more scandalous? The Senator has not been suspended, investigated, or charged to court for libel. Why? Because the political class knows the rot is real, and exposure of this theft would sink the very ship they sail on.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who doubles as Minister of Petroleum Resources, sits atop NNPC Ltd where “his boys” are reportedly planted. Citizens are now forced to swallow the bitter pill: thieves are ruling Nigeria, colluding with foreigners, and laughing all the way to offshore banks while over 220 million Nigerians choke on poverty.

Is it any wonder that our automation projects, our transparency initiatives, our reforms to streamline production and sales, have been iced? You now see why? It was never about “lack of technology” or “process complexity”—it was about protecting the tap lines of the cartel.

Whether you use the official NEITI figures (about 21,000 barrels stolen daily) or Gobir’s unofficial explosive claim (5–6 million barrels daily), one fact remains unchanged: every stolen barrel is blood money. It fuels corruption, deepens insecurity, and drives our youth to despair.

While oil thieves wine and dine in Abuja and London, Nigerian youths are drowning in the Mediterranean, suffocating in the Sahara, or dying in Libyan detention camps—all in a desperate bid to escape “the poverty capital of the world.” This is the ugly face of the Japa syndrome: not ambition, not wanderlust, but the forced exile of a generation robbed of hope.

And we ask again: who created this mess? The very elites you queued to vote for after they handed you bags of rice and crispy naira notes. The same lawmakers who reportedly collect bribes in three currencies—USD, EUR, and GBP—as if running a bureau de change inside the National Assembly.

They lift millions of barrels and leave you with scraps. You, the so-called “owners of the resources,” are left with epileptic power, skyrocketing food prices, and no jobs.

What Must Be Done—Three Call to Actions

If you still consider yourself a true son or daughter of this soil, pick one—or all three:

Rise and Defend Nigeria’s Shared Resources. From executives to legislators, hold them accountable. Public office is not a license to loot.

2) Write and Speak Relentlessly. Petition the UN, expose the British and other foreign actors enabling this crime, and demand sanctions. Our human rights lawyers, civil society groups, and journalists—your silence is complicity. Whose side are you on?

3) Disown the Cartel. Stop normalizing theft as “politics.” Distance yourself from the shame. Call out the Presidency, NNPC Ltd, foreign governments, and every finger identified in this crime. If you dine with thieves, history will count you among them.

The Next Election Must Not Be Business As Usual

Crude oil theft must become a national discourse and the central election issue. Every politician—from councillor to president—must answer clearly:

👉 Will you end oil theft or continue to benefit from it?

👉 Will you protect citizens or enrich cartels?

We must demand pledges in black and white. No more vague slogans, no more dancing on campaign stages while the nation bleeds.

A Final Word

The time to act is NOW.

Do not fear mortals, let alone thieves. They are dust today, dust tomorrow. Fear God Almighty, who alone owns the heavens, the earth, and the crude beneath our soil.

Nigeria is not cursed. Nigeria is simply being robbed. And until citizens unite to end this national disgrace, our youth will keep running, our economy will keep bleeding, and our sovereignty will remain mortgaged.

The thieves are not invisible. They are in power. And we—the people—outnumber them.

Rise, resist, and reclaim Nigeria.

SAGMA, the convener Tafarkin Nasara National Rebirth Movement (#TNNRM)