The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has lamented the continuous crude oil theft across the country with the latest sale of stolen 48 million barrels of crude oil to China.
The ad-hoc committee of the House of Representatives led by Mark Gbillah held a sitting in Abuja, which witnessed protests from hundreds of George Uboh Whistleblowers Network members.
The abnormality in the country’s oil and gas sector triggers the Nigerian lawmakers to launch a probe into the sale of stolen 48 million barrels of crude oil to China.
Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives noted that it is quite alarming that illegal deals with China cost the country approximately $2.4 billion in revenue loss from the sale of stolen 48 million barrels.
According to him, Nigeria loses nearly $700 million every month to oil theft menace, he added.
As per available data, Nigeria is set to lose up to $23 billion to crude oil theft this year. Also, between January and July last year, the country lost $10 billion.
It must be noted that the oil and gas sectors continue to remain as the primary contributors of the country’s economy. For instance, it accounted for almost 95% of the foreign exchange earnings.
Nigeria had failed to achieve the targeted oil production of 1.88 million barrels last year, mainly due to high theft levels.
The country’s current production is around one million barrels of crude oil per day, almost half of the daily target of two million barrels set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for 2022.
