Ahmad Lawan, president of the Nigerian Senate, on Friday bemoaned the large-scale stealing of the nation’s oil, as this drastically reduces the revenues available to the government.
In his welcome address at the 2023 budget presentation by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, Lawan said the Nigerian economy was seriously challenged by oil theft amid the dearth of revenues.
“Projections have put our losses from this malaise at between 700,000 to 900,000 barrels of crude oil per day, leading to about 29 to 35 percent loss in oil revenue in the first quarter of 2022,” he said.
According to the official, it was high time the government took stricter measures to stop the vice as efforts to provide critical infrastructure and diversify the economy will be continually thwarted by the criminal act.
“I consider the oil thieves the worst enemies of our country. The thieves have declared war on our country and our people,” he said, adding the idea of deploying revenues from oil and gas to support diversification into real sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, and mining, among others, was now under serious threat.
According to Buhari’s budget speech on Friday, despite higher oil prices in 2022, Nigeria’s oil revenue was below target due to significant oil production shortfalls and high petrol subsidy costs.
Buhari said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, working in collaboration with security and other relevant agencies, is putting in place additional measures to curb the incidence of pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft.
