Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA), has revealed that Nigeria is still losing 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily due to criminal activities and economic sabotage.
Gatekeepers News reports that Ribadu made this statement after leading a presidential delegation to inspect oil and gas facilities in Owaza, Abia, and Odogwa in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State on Saturday.
He emphasised that the country’s economy is severely impacted by oil criminals, who are responsible for the decline in crude oil production.
Additionally, Ribadu highlighted the negative environmental impact of artisanal refineries on host communities and the vandalization of government infrastructure.
“It’s unfortunate that few individuals would steal our common resources, and in the process cause unbelievable loss to both the nation, communities and the people,” he said.
“Nigeria has the capacity to produce 2 million barrels of crude daily, but we are currently producing less than 1.6 million barrels due to theft and vandalism of pipelines.
“So, we are talking about 400,000 barrels of crude oil going to waste.
“The value of 400,000 barrels of oil today is about 4 million dollars, and every day, we lose this amount because of this irresponsible behaviour.
“If you multiply 4 million dollars by 365 days (one year), you will see that it is a lot of money running into billions of dollars.”
Ribadu emphasised the urgent need for financial resources, given the continuous depreciation of the Nigerian naira’s value. This has prompted him to be accompanied by high-ranking security officials, such as Baduru Abubakar, the Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Hassan Abubakar, Chief of Air Staff (CAS), and Bello Matawalle, the Minister of State for Defence, among others.
Back in April, Timipre Sylva, the former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, confirmed that the country was losing 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily due to oil theft.
In February, Yemi Osinbajo, the former Vice-President, referred to the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), which estimated that the audited figure for oil theft and losses was approximately 619.7 million barrels of crude oil daily.
“And this is valued at $46 billion or N16.25 trillion, and all of these losses occurred between 2010 and 2020,” he had said.
“In addition, Nigeria lost about 4.2 billion litres of petroleum products from refineries, which were valued at over $1.4 billion at the rate of 140,000 barrels per day from 2009 to 2018.”
