The amount of crude oil stolen each day in the nation has been disclosed by the federal authorities.
The Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services and Administration of the NUPRC, Mr. Jide Adeola, stated at an investigative public hearing on “Oil lifting, theft and the impact on petroleum production and oil revenues” that approximately 159 liters, or 600,000 barrels of crude oil, are illegally siphoned each day. The hearing was presided over by Senator Bassey Akpan (YPP – Akwa Ibom North East).
Adeola also disclosed that Nigeria produces 1.23 million fewer barrels of crude oil per day than it should, falling short of its objective of 1.8 million barrels, resulting in a $2.1 billion (or N877 billion) income loss overall.
Festus Osifo, national president of PENGASSAN, also asserted that locals operating clandestine refineries and security officers assigned to guard oil sites collaborated in stealing oil.
Osifo urged regulatory bodies for the petroleum industry as well as various security organizations to recognize their roles in containing the threat.
He stated:
“One of the greatest problems we have, which nobody has highlighted is that there is strong connivance of our security forces in the crime.
“There is no doubt about this. From our Army to our Naval officers, we have information that they pay their superiors to post them to some areas in the Niger Delta.
“I can authoritatively inform this committee that men of the Nigerian Army and the Navy pay their superiors to be posted to Niger Delta.
“Even when the former Commander of the Amphibious Brigade in Port Harcourt was removed, many of the men in the Command resisted being posted out due to lucrativeness of their operational areas.
“I think the people who have a solution to this problem are not even the ones sitting here. They are the ones you will invite behind the camera.”
Chairman of the Adhoc Committee, Senator Samoan said: “The quota from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Country is about 3.3 million barrels per day but we are producing less than 1.3million per day. How do we meet our fiscal challenges?”
