On Thursday, September 7, Speaker Abbas of the House of Representatives revealed that Nigeria had suffered a staggering loss of N16.25 trillion due to crude oil theft over an 11-year period, spanning from 2009 to 2020.
During the inauguration of an ad hoc committee tasked with investigating crude oil theft and revenue loss, Speaker Abbas emphasized that this menace had significantly hindered the growth of the country’s oil production. Each day, between 5 and 30 percent of crude oil production was lost.
Shockingly, critical agencies in the oil and gas sector, including the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, and Ministry of Petroleum Resources, failed to attend the investigative hearing.
Speaker Abbas, represented by Al Hassan Ado Doguwa, the chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum Upstream, warned that if prompt action wasn’t taken, the nation could plunge into a severe fiscal crisis due to declining revenue from the oil and gas sector.
Citing data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Abbas revealed that Nigeria’s oil production had dwindled from 2.51 million barrels per day in 2005 to 1.77 million barrels per day in 2020.
He stated, “NEITI reports also show that 619 million barrels of crude, valued at $46 billion, were stolen from 2009 to 2020. Nigeria consistently failed to meet its daily production quota as set by OPEC.”
Furthermore, Abbas pointed out that Nigeria’s OPEC quota had been reduced recently, yet the country struggled to meet even this lowered quota, with daily production output at 1.184 million barrels per day in May and 1.249 million barrels per day in June 2023, far from the budgeted 1.69 million per day.
This current daily production shortfall has significant implications for the nation’s economy, contributing to the ongoing economic crisis.
Speaker Abbas stressed that Nigeria faced a major fiscal crisis, compounded by global factors such as the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, casting uncertainty over the oil and gas industry.
He noted that investment in the sector had declined due to global financing constraints and energy transition considerations. However, the primary challenge remained the rampant oil theft that had plagued the sector for decades.
Abbas acknowledged past administrations’ efforts to combat oil theft but lamented its persistence despite substantial resources allocated to address it.
Chairman of the committee, Hon. Alhassa Usman Rumrum, expressed strong disapproval of the losses caused by oil theft, emphasizing its negative impact on the economy and national security.
Rumrum urged all Nigerians involved in this practice to reconsider their actions, stressing that the nation’s future was at stake. He called for a united effort to end this destructive trend.
Commending the President’s efforts to rebuild the country, Rumrum emphasized that these efforts would be futile unless a resolute stance against oil theft and hydrocarbon unaccountability was taken, sending a clear message that such activities would not be tolerated under the current administration. This, he believed, would rekindle hope and purpose among the people.
