The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) says past audit reports on Nigeria’s oil and gas sector indicate the country lost a whopping 619.7 million barrels of oil valued at N16.25 trillion to theft between 2009 and 2020.
The agency added that between 2009 and 2018, the country also lost 4.2 billion litres of petroleum products from refineries valued at $1.84 billion. Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, made the assertions yesterday in Lagos, at the commencement of the 2024 NEITI Board Retreat.
Orji warned that the global push for a transition to renewable energy and the prospect of a permanent oil demand decline would have a significant effect on Nigeria’s fossil fuels-dependent economy. Orji pointed out that the losses and their attendant negative effects on the economy led to the constitution of a Special Panel on Oil Theft/Losses, which had NEITI as a member, to study the situation against current realities and make recommendations on how to fight the menace.
The executive secretary stated that the global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources posed significant risks to countries that depend heavily on hydrocarbon-based natural resource revenues for survival. According to him, Nigeria is heavily dependent on oil revenues for survival.
He said it fell within the ambit of the current NEITI board to support the government and citizens with timely policy decisions and strategies to deal with the unavoidable unfolding development in the extractive sector.
Orji reemphasized that the fear of the known risks in most of the affected countries far outweighed the potential unknown opportunities, except Nigeria and others affected utilized the immense opportunities within the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), its global network and multi stakeholder framework, to search for solutions.
