The Federal Government of Nigeria has ventured into partnership with U.S. to effectively tackle the menace of oil theft in the country which is undermining efforts of the administration at delivering on its transformation programmes.

The Vice President, Namadi Sambo, stated this on Wednesday, when he received in audience a top level delegation from the United States Government, led by the Assistant Secretary of Defence, Sharon Burke.

Sambo described oil theft as a gross criminal act against the people and the State, saying that resources lost annually to this menace, could have easily gone into developing schools, supporting the energy sector and many other transformation programmes that would impact positively on our people.

He, however, expressed optimism that with the support and partnership of the United States and other members of the international community, the menace would soon be brought to an end.

The Vice President further stated that government was not taking oil theft lightly as it had put in place stringent measures to bring the menace to an end, disclosing that the Federal Executive Council had on Wednesday approved the development of a special laboratory for forensic on oil products in Nigeria, which will assist in tackling the problem squarely.

He pointed out that Nigeria was a strong believer in democracy which the U.S. stood for, adding that Nigeria was committed to the entrenchment of democracy in not only the West African sub-region, but Africa as a whole.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, said the delegation came to the country in response to a request made by President Goodluck Jonathan to President Barack Obama for assistance to tackle crude oil theft.

“Based on that request, President Obama put together this delegation and instructed it to come here and see if we can help,” Mr. Entwistle said

Mr. Entwistle stated that the delegation has been in Delta State and Abuja and also met with top government officials and some oil companies.

He further said, “we are not arrogant to think that as Americans, we can just come here and solve a problem on behalf of your country. But what we are trying to do in this delegation is to listen and learn so that we can understand Nigeria (and) this oil theft problem”

“And of course there is international dimension to the problem, we want to make sure we completely understand Nigeria and the problem. We have held very good meetings including with the Vice President. We have come to understand that the more you talk to people, the more you understand the problems”.

In her remarks, Ms. Burke said, “We are very delighted to come here on behalf of President Obama. I am here with colleagues from the department of energy and the White House and the department of state and U.S. force for Africa. We were told to come and listen, to listen to people and understand the nature of the oil theft, revenue lose and what the problem was and we have had opportunity to speak with great range of people and we have had a great deal of ourselves”.

“We have just met with the Vice President and will be returning home, digest the information we have gotten, and then report to Mr. President. We are going back to Washington tonight, we will review our notes and discussions and then present our findings to Mr. President”, she added.

The Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke who also attended the meeting with the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu, dismissed insinuations that crude oil theft was affecting supply to the United States.

“The issue of supply and demand stands aside from this particular intervention. As you have had, we have requested a partnership with the US on the issue of oil theft because it has now become an issue that affects us internally and internationally”, Ms. Alison-Madueke said.

She explained that the issue of crude theft has both dimensions, saying that “we felt it is necessary to seek partnership with the US because it has affected our economy in several ways and the degradation that it causes as well.”

“The US presidents as you have heard responded to that partnership, as you can see, a high powered delegation have come to discuss and they have been able to discuss with a number of people and everybody and entity related to this oil theft.

“We are very hopeful that as they go back, we will continue with the discuss and come with a very salient solution to help us push back the scourge of oil theft once and for all,” she added.