Chairman of Heirs Holding and UBA Group, Mr Tony Elumelu has said that between January 2021 and September 2021, Nigeria lost about $4 billion (about N1.68 trillion) to crude oil theft in the Niger Delta region alone.
Heirs Holdings also has a huge interest in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry operating under Heirs Oil & Gas with Tony Elumelu as its chairman.
Speaking as a guest lecturer at the National Defense College Course 30 lecture, Mr Elumelu said oil theft is threatening the corporate existence of Nigeria with huge cash in the hands of criminals. He spoke on the topic: “Strategic leadership: My business experience.”
He said “Our oil and gas business is threatened by theft. Theft in the Niger Delta is a national menace. We will produce crude oil and the thieves will steal like 50,000 barrels per day. To me, it requires a national seminar and dialogue. In my opinion, it is one of the most lethal threats to our country because there is so much money in the hands of people who don’t pay taxes and people you don’t regulate. The country is not safe.
“Between three quarters of last year, between January to September 2021, Nigeria lost about $4bn to thieves who don’t pay tax and they will use the money to buy more lethal ammunition, posing threats to our cooperate existence” he warned.
He said Nigeria must be deliberate about the right set of leaders to deal with the oil theft menace and other ills in the society adding that it requires strategic leadership to deal with issues such as this. This again, require strategic leadership” he further stated.
He also tasked the security agencies to confront the oil theft menace by deploying strategic leadership capabilities.
Speaking on how he became a successful entrepreneur empowering thousands of people across Africa through the Tony Elumelu Foundation, he said he achieved his goals one at a time but with a clear vision, execution plan and based on timelines.
He also said his core principle is to reward hard work, competence, and dedication to duty without favouritism.
He said one of the things that kill morale in workers and destroy an organisation is having a reward system that rewards incompetent staff to the detriment of productivity based on sentiments and other misplaced considerations.
“Discrimination deprives the organisation of the needed drive and kills the soul of the organisation,” he said.
He to be successful in businesses, set clear visions, articulate a plan to execute based on timelines and assemble the right team to make your vision happen.
