The National Security Adviser, Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd.), has warned that the Federal Government may lose an estimated $23bn next year if the crude oil theft persists in the country.
The comment was made by Monguno yesterday during the inauguration of a special investigation panel set up to check crude oil theft in the country.
At the event, Monguno who expressed worry over the poor revenue from the oil sector said Nigeria currently produces one million barrels of crude oil per day as against the two million barrels daily target allocated to it by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
He lamented the challenge of poor revenues accruing to the government from the oil sector and charged members of the newly inaugurated committee to work towards reducing the menace.
The committee is expected to submit its report by February 21st, 2023.
Crude oil theft has become a very thorny issue in Nigeria for several years with huge volumes of oil being lifted by some cabal in the oil industry, with serious consequences on the country’s revenue and economy.
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Recall that earlier in October, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced that it had uncovered an illegal four-kilometre pipeline connected from Forcados Terminal and operated for nine years with about 600,000 barrels per day of oil lost in the same period.
The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NNPC, Mele Kyari, had about two weeks ago while appearing on a Channels Television programme, accused government and security officials of collaborating with oil thieves to steal Nigeria’s crude oil.
The state-owned oil giant had earlier assured that its cooperation with security forces was reducing theft and will bring production consistently back up.
Critics say oil theft in Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest petroleum producers, is a much wider problem of corruption involving elements of the security forces and local political leaders, with the Managing Director of Chevron Nigeria/Mid Africa Business Unit, Richard Kennedy, describing the menace as an organised crime and should be differentiated completely from host community issues.
