Should Oil Theft Attract Death Penalty?

The issue of illegal oil bunkering has been a big problem facing the Nigerian government as the nation reportedly loses huge sums of money daily through the illegal act.

In a bid to find a lasting solution to the problem, the Senate President, David Mark, a few days ago advocated death penalty for any perons found guilty of oil theft.

Is death penalty really the best punishment for oil theft? Our correspondent, Calista Ezeaku, and photographer Dele Obinna, sought the opinions of members of the public.

Excepts:

You know that is a constitutional matter. And being a constitutional matter it cannot  be tackled without the involvement of the National Assembly responsible for enactment of laws in the country.

Having said that, I will say that the youth involved in oil bunkering do so because of high unemployment rate in the country.  So they have reasons for their involvement in such a thing and if the national assembly passes law that stipulates death penalty for involvement in bunkering it will not be equitable.

Equitable in the sense that, there are not being adequate employment to engage these youths, especially the youth of the Niger Delta who have been suffering.  You will see that they did not just decide to adopt that means of survival.  Most of them are compelled to do so.  And there are top dogs to which they are connected.  So if such a law should be passed, it should be holistic in terms of implementation. It shall not be directed to only those caught in the act.  And you see the problem of the people at the top influencing the execution of laws.  This one cannot be an isolation, I’m telling you the truth.

So it will be very difficult for that law to be passed.  And borrowing a leaf from the developed countries, death penalty is retracting because killing human beings is anti developmental.

So to cut my opinion short, government should provide employment opportunities for the youth.  Secondly the penalty for illegal oil bunkering should not be so stiff, it should be mild so that the ownership of mineral vested in the federal government shall not be abused. If we do not have any law to checkmate or prevent participation in that activity, our posterity will suffer.  So in all, I say it shall not be death penalty but a mild penalty and the mode of execution shall be very very objective.  It shall not be this person is my brother or my relation.

Again, if you say oil thieves should be punished by death, what happens to those involved in corruption in different places in Nigeria.  We all know that corruption is the bane of the Nigerian society.  People will embezzle so many billions of naira in the country and when they are caught and proven to have been guilty or liable for the offence, they will wave a huge part of the money embezzled and they will be compelled to pay just a little part.  So if they say they want to pass death penalty for bunkering, it should start from corruption because corruption pervades all the ministries of the country.

No, I’m not in support of death penalty for oil thieves, instead they should be punished by certain jail terms.  Killing all the people involved in the act which are mainly young people is not a solution to the problem. Oil is not more important than human life. So, they should be punished not killed.

For me, I want to say that the issue is in two ways thing because those people that are involved in oil bunkering are mostly youths and they must have been influence to join the illegal business due to non availability of jobs and the inability of government to take care of their needs. So they decided to be involved in illegal bunkering rather than being idle or going to the streets to beg for food.  So they see it as a source of livelihood.

On the other hand, if the constitution says illegal bunkering is a criminal act those caught doing it should be penalized, but the penalty should not be very stringent to the point of killing them.  I will advocate that they should be apprehended for a period of time but they should not be killed.

Again, the people caught in the act are not the only ones involved.  They have financiers and any punishment stipulated by law for this offence should also apply to them.  The penalty should get to the people that are working behind the scene, not just those caught in the act. People commit worse crimes than bunkering in this country and they are not punished by death.  Some after committing serious crimes are granted amnesty even post-humously, so why should they advocate death penalty for oil thieves?

No, oil thieves should not be sentenced to death.  There are other punitive measures. They can be sent to life imprisonment.  But the problem in Nigeria is that somebody serving life imprisonment gets out of the prison after a little while.  But if we start getting it right, if they are put there, it will serve as a deterrent to other.   But definitely, it shouldn’t be death sentence, I’m against that.

Death penalty is a severe penalty. Theft is theft and it’s against the norm. I don’t think there should be an exclusion.  But going the extreme? I think it is too much.  There should be some other lighter punishment, maybe like life imprisonment or something less than death sentence.

My opinion also is that as they are punishing people involved in oil theft, they should also do something about corruption in the country.  Corruption is endermic, oil theft is another one.  But since they make the laws, they know which one will favour them and the one they will use in achieving whatever they want to achieve.

Corruption is endemic, it’s very bad, that’s what has kept this country like this.  So something should also be done about corruption and those involved in corrupt practices if this nation must move forward.