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•4 ministers, NNPCL ,NIMASA snub House C’ttee •Panel slams 24-hour ultimatum on affected MDAs to appear
From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas has said Nigeria lost a whopping $46 billion (N16.25 trillion) to crude oil theft between 2009 and 2020.
Abbas made the disclosure yesterday in Abuja, at the inauguration of an all ad hoc committee to investigate the theft and revenue loss.
He said the menace of crude oil theft has affected the growth of the country’s oil production, with Nigeria losing between 5 to 30% of daily crude oil production.
Represented by the Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Al Hassan Ado Doguwa, he cited a data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and said the country’s oil production declined from 2.51 million barrels per day in 2005 to 1.77 million barrels per day in 2020.
“NEITI reports also show that 619 million barrels of crude valued at $46 billion were stolen in the period 2009-2020”, adding that “Nigeria has continually failed to meet its daily production quota as set by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
“Recently, Nigeria’s OPEC quota was reduced from 1.742 million barrels per day to 1.38 million barrels per day.
“Yet, the country is still struggling to meet this quota as daily production output was 1.184 million barrels per day and 1.249 million barrels per day in May and June 2023 respectively.
“On average, current daily production output is a far cry from the budget assumption of 1.69 million per day. The implication is clearly manifest in the economic crisis that the country is facing.”
According to him, global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine have cast a cloud of uncertainty on the oil and gas sector.
He said “While the average international price for Brent crude oil has hovered slightly above the set benchmark price since January, Nigeria’s daily oil production has performed poorly due to a number of reasons.
“It is common knowledge that investment in the oil and gas sector has declined in the past few years owing to global financing constraints and the overall response to energy transition considerations.
“However, we must agree that the greatest challenge to optimizing crude oil production in Nigeria is the grand scale oil theft that has plagued the sector for the past 2 decades.
He admitted that the House was aware of several efforts by past administrations to address the menace with a number of task forces, special committees, and investigative panels set up in the past, each with a wide range of findings and recommendations.
“NEITI provides yearly updates on the amount of crude oil stolen or lost through sabotage. Yet, the menace of oil theft has continued unabated despite the enormous resources already committed to addressing it,” he added.
Also, the Committee Chairman, Alhassa Usman Rumrum, said the volume of losses caused by oil theft and its associated impact on the economy was unacceptable to the government.
He said: “The way and manner this act of sabotage and breach on our national security and sovereignty is carried out daily makes a caricature of our pride as a nation and even a mockery of the acclaimed status of our armed forces.
“It is an affront to government and its institutions, which must be tackled without further delay.
“It is in the light of these that the House constituted this committee and is determined to bring this ugly trend to an end otherwise there may be no future for our remaining children who have not yet “Japa” to other countries in search of survival.
“To members of the armed forces/security agencies, all Nigerians in the various states, host communities and even in the diaspora who are involved in this practice, I challenge you all to have a rethink. We have no other country to call our own, let us therefore not push this madness to a point of no return where we may find nowhere to run to.”
He commended President Bola Tinubu for what he called a ‘courageous steps taken’ to rebuild the country.
Rumrum said “These efforts will be in vain unless we make a resolute statement and send a powerful message through both words and actions, declaring that oil theft and all form of hydrocarbon unaccountability will not be tolerated under this administration.
“Only then can our people confidently and joyfully embrace a renewed sense of hope and purpose”.
Piqued by the absence of the Minister of State for Petroleum, Heineken Lokpobiri; Minister of Environment, Mohammed Hassan Abdullahi; Minister of Finance, Wale Edun; Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari; the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) among other, the committee issued a 24-hour ultimatum for them to appear.
Another agency summoned is the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA)
The motion was moved by a member of the Committee, Philip Agbese, who said it was disrespectful for the agencies to shun the invitation of the House when the country was bleeding as a result of crude oil theft. The ruled that the affected agencies must appear before the Committee tomorrow (Friday) at 10. a.m.
In addition, the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Sylvester Alabi said the police have put in place a task force to assist other security agencies in arresting those attacking oil facilities.
