‘FG lost $10b to oil theft, vandalism in seven months’

Spends $1.5b in four years to protect oil installations

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Tajudeen Abbas, has revealed that the country lost over $10 billion within the last seven months.

This is as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, also disclosed that over $1.5 billion was expended to protect Nigeria’s oil installations.

While inaugurating the investigative hearing on oil theft and losses, organised by the Ado Doguwa-led Special Committee on Oil Theft/Losses, Abbas said that this amount was arrived at after evaluating the average cost of 437,000 barrels of crude oil lost daily due to theft, vandalism and other criminal activities.

Represented by his Deputy, Benjamin Kalu, the Speaker identified the problems associated with crude oil theft, including environmental degradation, heightened insecurity in the form of piracy, kidnapping, militancy and vandalism, and the shutdown of production by many companies as challenges militating against the oil and gas sector.

Abbas remarked that the reduction in government revenue has been responsible for the government borrowing to address budget deficits over the years.

He said: “Unfortunately, this has astronomically raised the debt burden of the country, while also denying it the optimal capacity for growth and development. If we must make progress as a country, renew the hope of Nigerians and meet their yearnings, this appalling situation cannot be allowed to continue unabated.”

The Speaker stressed the need for collaboration between security agencies and oil industry operators to stem the tide of oil theft in view of the commitment by President Bola Tinubu to
increase oil production to 2.6 million barrels per day by 2027 and four million barrels per day by 2030.

He applauded Tinubu’s directive to the Chief of Defence Staff to deal decisively with oil theft and pipeline vandalism within the shortest possible time to restore national production to the level befitting the status of Nigeria as one of the largest oil producers in the world.

Abbas described the approval for the procurement of advanced solution technology to track every cargo of crude oil loaded in Nigeria up to its destination as a step in the right direction.

Expressing concern over the devastating effects of corrupt practices on the country, he reiterated the House’s determination to strengthen the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and other anti-corruption agencies to frontally combat corruption in the oil and gas sector.

However, the SGF, represented by the Permanent Secretary in his office, Maurice Nandi, reiterated the government’s resolve to tackle the problems associated with oil theft and vandalism.

The investigative hearing was triggered by reports by NEITI, which claimed that over $46 billion worth of crude oil was stolen between 2009 and 2020.