The Chief Justice of Nigeria, (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola on Wednesday revealed that leaking the internal memo written by Justices of the Supreme to Justice Mohammed Tanko, former CJN was an embarrassment to the Apex Court.

The new CJN,who said this in Abuja while responding to questions posed by Senators at his confirmation hearing at the National Assembly,revealed that the Internal Memo written by the Supreme Court Justices was not a petition to or against Justice Mohammed Tanko, but a correspondence aimed at addressing challenges of welfare and unconducive working environment faced by them.

“Justices of the Supreme Court didn’t write petition to or against Justice Mohammed Tanko as CJN few months back but memo where issues relating to welfare of each of the Justices and unconducive working environment of Justices at the Supreme Court generally were raised.

“We the Justices were embarrassed when we read content of our memo in the papers . It was never intended to be for public consumption since the motive behind the memo was not to fight or bring down anybody.When the hand written memo was signed by all the Justices, we didn’t allow anybody to see it, making its leakage to the media to be like a miracle to us”, he said.

He regretted that most of the issues raised in the memo are still not attended to, linking the situation to lack of fund and poor funding of the Supreme Court in particular and Judiciary generally.

“Some of the Justices appointed in 2020 , have not gotten official accommodation , making them to be coming to office from Satellite towns within the FCT.Judiciary of Nigeria must be properly funded, we should not beg for our entitlements.More Justices need to be appointed as out of 21 needed in the Supreme Court, only 13 are left and for expeditious consideration of cases , some of the cases should be allowed to stop at the Court of Appeal through constitution amendment to that effect.

Explaining the causes of delayed administration of Justice, the nation’s number three citizen pointed out that as Justice delayed is seen as Justice denied, so is Justice rushed, Justice denied.

According to him, the wheel of Justice may be slow but as long as it is steady, Justice will always be served on those who deserved it.

He explained the process of appointing Judicial officers, insisting that it takes a lawyer to be at the bar for a minimum of ten years before securing appointment as Judge of State or Federal High Court and minimum of 15 years for such appointment at the Court of Appeal.

The CJN also disclosed that contrary to fears expressed by some lawmakers, there was no crisis among Justices of the Supreme Court.

The National President of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN),has alleged that the military and other security agencies were aiding and abetting criminals to steal the crude with the active connivance of the regulatory agencies in charge of the nation’s petroleum industry.

He spoke on Wednesday at the Senate Ad-hoc Committee, mandated to investigate Oil Lifting, Theft and the impact on Petroleum Production and Oil Revenues,where he also
explained that oil theft is collaborative crime between military personnel assigned to protect oil installations and the locals running illegal refineries.

Osifo specifically alleged that men of the Amphibious Brigade in Port Harcourt and their counterparts in the Navy in connivance with superior officers at different times, joined the locals in the theft.

He said: “One of the greatest problems we have, which nobody has highlighted is that there is a strong connivance of our security forces in the crime .There is no doubt about this. From our Army to our Naval officers, we have information that they pay their superiors to post them to some areas in the Niger Delta .

“I can authoritatively inform this committee that men of the Nigerian Army and the Navy pay their superiors to be posted to Niger Delta.Even when the former Commander of the Amphibious Brigade in Port Harcourt was removed, many of the men in the Command resisted to be posted out due to lucrativeness of their operational areas .

“I think the people who have solution to this problem are not even the one sitting here. They are the ones you will invite behind the camera.”

In his submission before the Senate Committee, while explaining further what is been stolen, the Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services and Administration in
Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC),Mr Jide Adeola, disclosed that the total revenue loss to oil theft is $2.1billion or N877billion.

Narrating what the nation has lost so far, NUPRC said that as at today, Nigeria produces 1.23million barrels of crude oil per day as against 1.8million barrels targeted, leading to total revenue loss as at today, to be $2.1billion or N877billion.

He added what is being stolen is about 95.4million litres per day or 600,000 barrels, since a barrel contains 159litres.

Expressing concern over this development, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Bassey Akpan (YPP Akwa Ibom North East), said, “I’ve never seen economic sabotage of this magnitude and it must be stopped.”

He added that “the required political will through instrumentality of legislative intervention shall surely be done after meeting other critical stakeholders like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited ( NNPCL), the military etc.”