Navy announced that it had seized 260 vessels used for illegal bunkering (Leadership (Abuja) 2007). On July 11, 2008, the JTF arrested a tanker (MT Lina Panama) owned by a Greek company called Corinthians laden with 150 metric tons of Nigerian crude oil suspected to be stolen from a Nigerian Agip Oil Company‘s facility. The federal government has blamed noncooperation of the international community and lack of capability of Nigeria security operatives for the persistence of large-scale bunkering. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Odein Ajumogobia, told newsmen in Abuja on July 26, 2009, that satellite images prove collusion of an international criminal cartel and that Nigerian security ought to be able to stop the small barges that feed the ocean tankers on the high sea (This Day 2009, 10).

41. Indeed, as bunkering has persisted and grown profusely over the years, many Nigerians believe that the security agencies, especially the Navy, may be aiding and abetting illegal bunkering (Gillies 2009; Huillery 2007). According to a former presidential aspirant and presidential adviser, a posting to the Niger Delta is highly coveted by the troops who see it as an opportunity to become enriched through escorting stolen products.<sup>14</sup> 42. In 2003, the issue of informal excess lifting of crude oil at export terminals was brought before the National Assembly when the chair of the House Committee on Petroleum claimed that the country was losing about N100 billion annually from such activities by the international oil companies (IOCs) (Azaiki op. cit, 267). These losses pose significant risk, particularly given weaknesses in the system of checks and balances in the various institutions monitoring the oil industry, including security.

# _ii. Government Response: From Tolerance to Incapacity?_

43. The government falters to deal decisively with the extensive bunkering probably due to the payoffs from the bunkering, which are spread quite broadly among entrenched interests in the oil communities (see Onuoha 2008; Watts 2008). The prevailing violence in the region also constrains military action. The violence is perpetrated in small communities where people are forced to join criminal gangs for sheer survival, acquiesce to illegal bunkering for self-protection, or flee the communities for safety. Security operatives explain that the government is restrained from acting against the different forms of illegal bunkering because of the potentially high secondary damages, especially loss of innocent lives. Not even those in positions of authority at the local level can escape the intimidation and violence used by those engaged in illegal bunkering. Traditional rulers and even local government chairs are pressured to succumb to the prevailing order. If these officials fail to acquiesce, bunkerers can incite rebellion in the community or attempt to assassinate them.

44. For example, Futek Zikoregha, Chair of Forcados local government, one of the oil-rich communities of the Delta State, was forced into hiding after bunkerers incited the community against him. His story reflects the enormous risk individuals face when motivated to challenge powerful criminal gangs engaged in oil theft. Zikoregha had granted an interview to The Nation in which he denounced bunkerers in his Local Government Area and warned that he would disclose their identities. The kingpin of the bunkerers bribed the community to remove him from office. He started receiving death threats and feared that he was being trailed. He had no confidence that the state could protect him and he went into hiding by May 2009. In his words, ―the soldiers and the 20