National Telescope national telescope newspaper
From 2020 to date, the Federal Government of Nigeria has spent over $1.5 billion to safeguard the country’s oil installations and combat crude oil theft.
This was revealed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, at a House of Representatives public hearing on crude oil theft.
The announcement was made on Thursday during the public hearing.
Akume, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of General Services, Maurice Nandi, expressed the government’s concern over the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) report.
The report indicated that over $46 billion worth of crude oil was stolen between 2009 and 2020, highlighting the significant financial losses faced by the country.
In response to these alarming losses, the House of Representatives established a special committee to investigate the financial discrepancies within the oil and gas sector.
The committee is chaired by Ado Doguwa, Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum Upstream.
Their mandate is to scrutinise the sector and identify measures to mitigate further losses.
Similarly, Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, represented by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, underscored the gravity of the situation by revealing that $10 billion has been lost to crude oil theft in just the past seven months.
This staggering figure underscores the severe impact of oil theft on the government’s ability to manage the country’s resources effectively and sustainably.
The extensive financial expenditure by the government to protect oil installations underscores the critical nature of oil theft in Nigeria.
The government’s commitment to combating oil theft is also reflected in its collaborations with international partners and the deployment of advanced surveillance technologies.
