The country may lose a whooping $23 billion in crude oil theft, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has said.
Gbajabiamila said this in his remarks during the commencememt of the ad-hoc committee investigating the alleged loss of over $2.4 billion in revenue from illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil export in 2015 including all crude oil export and sales from 2014 till date, at the National Assembly today.
The Speaker said the Oil and Gas sector (particularly crude oil) is still the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy accounting for 95% of the country’s foreign exchange earnings and 80% annual of budgeted revenue.
” While Crude Oil daily production was put at 1.88 million barrels in year 2022, this figure was never met with production dropping below 1 million barrels during the year with significant revenue losses to the country.
” 1.69 million barrels in year 2023.
Nigeria’s revenue to GDP ratio is below 5% which is rated amongst the five lowest countries in the world and it is reported that about 700 million dollar worth of Crude Oil is lost to oil theft monthly in Nigeria.
“In January and July 2022 alone, Nigeria lost 10 Billion Dollars to the crime. Available data shows that the country may lose 23 Billion Dollars this year to Crude Oil theft with concerns being expressed about the possibility of meeting 2023 proposed production target of 1.69 million barrels per day due to the myriad of issues militating against the attainment of this target, such as vandalism, in-accurate reconciliation, insecurity and unreasonable operational cost” he said.
He further said:. ” In the light of dwindling revenue accruing to Nigeria from crude oil sales, it was quite alarming to learn about whistleblower allegations that over $2.4 billion in possible revenue by the country was lost from the sale of 48 million barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil cargoes in China.
“While it is imperative to highlight that these are unverified allegations, the onus is on the House of Representatives as a responsible House of the Nigerian people to carry out a thorough investigation to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of these allegations including an investigation into crude oil exports from Nigeria from 2014-2022 to ascertain the accuracy of recorded revenue from sales during this period, the utilization of this revenue and identify any likely additional losses in revenue to the country.”
The Speaker lamented that Corruption continues to be the bane of Nigeria’s development with Nigeria ranking 150th out of 180 countries in the most recent Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), while the government through its anti-graft agencies continue the onerous fight against corruption, remains daunting and requires the cooperation of all Nigerians to curb and eventually eradicate.
He said It is the practice globally for individuals with information about the existence of proceeds from illegal or corrupt actions by government officials or private individuals to volunteer such information and receive compensation when recoveries are made as an incentive to others.
“While it is commendable that this administration introduced a whistleblower policy in 2016 and has confirmed recovery of significant proceeds of corruption from its implementation, the policy is without statutory backing and the receipt and expenditure of these proceeds does appear to conform with constitutional provisions and the payment by compensation does not appear to be transparent. ”
Gbajabiamila said while the recommendation of the Committee after its investigation “will no doubt, guide the House in making an informed decision in considering the Whistle-Blower Bill currently before it,” the whistle-blowers that volunteered information before the House “will receive the maximum legislative protection and confidentiality.”
