Newsfront Online …Telling the Public as it is
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), has revealed that Nigeria lost at least $3.5billion revenue to crude oil theft in the year 2021.
CISLAC executive director, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, made the revelation in Port Harcourt on Thursday while speaking during a one-day design workshop on the roadmap towards fostering civil-security relationship in Nigeria.
Rafsanjani, who was represented by a member, Board of Trustees of the organisation, Mr. Adesina Oke, stated that the figure represents 10 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign reserves.
He said: “Recent findings suggest that the issue does need to be investigated further and more data gathered to inform firmer conclusions and better targeted policy recommendations. In 2021, Nigeria lost at least $3.5 billion revenue to crude oil theft, a figure that represents 10 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign reserves.
“Oil theft and pipeline vandalism threaten oil exploration and accruable revenue. In 2019, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced that it lost ₦159 billion to oil theft and pipeline vandalisation.”
The CISLAC executive director expressed worry over the involvement of military and other security forces in oil theft, describing the development as a ‘problem’. He added: “Military and other security agencies involvement in oil theft remains a problem, with armed forces either turning a blind eye or actively profiting from the illegal oil trade throughout the process.
“There have been reports of soldiers protecting the “tapping points”, where crude oil is retrieved from illegally installed taps on the oil pipelines, of armed forces personnel turning a blind eye to, or indeed protecting, illegal bush refineries, and of soldiers soliciting bribes in return for undisturbed passage for illegal oil transportations.”
(leadership.ng)
