• Says a sad person who contributes to violence
• Describes N4bn Tompolo’s contract as strange
• Prosecuting suspected oil thieves, Senate orders military, security chiefs
• Falana: I have proof that the government knows about oil thefts, smuggling
• Obi estimates stolen crude oil at 1. 3 billion naira
Emmanuel Addeh, Sunday Aborisade and Emameh Gabriel in Abuja
Nigeria has continued to squander the rare opportunity presented through global oil costs to expand its economy like other oil-producing countries, the London-based Economist said.
While a rise in oil costs can do staggering things, such as in Saudi Arabia, where a futuristic city had to emerge from the desert or in Angola, where its currency suddenly became one of the most productive acting in opposition to the dollar, he noted that in Nigeria, the opposite is true.
The report came just as Senate leaders called on the country’s army chiefs and security agencies to begin prosecuting alleged members of the public involved in the oil theft.
The National Assembly space has also told the judiciary to grant expedited hearings at the behest of oil theft and other bureaucracies of economic sabotage.
As yesterday, Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana, revealed that he had evidence that members of the government were involved in the theft of crude oil and smuggling of petroleum products into the country.
Also commenting on the factor that is largely at the root of the country’s economic difficulties, Labour Party presidential candidate Mr Peter Obi said he would not blame the country’s previous government for his failure to elect him to the presidency. The next year, but rather concentrating on solving the economy, he alleged that billions of naira of crude oil had been stolen from the country.
In the Middle East and Central Asia, The Economist noted that exporters may pocket $320 billion more in oil revenue this year than expected, adding, however, that Nigeria is a notable absence from the joyous oil festival.
“Africa’s most populous country, with a population of around 220 million, is wary of the money an oil boom can bring. About 40 percent of its population lives on less than $1. 90 a day.
“The government is struggling to pay its debts. Social conditions are disastrous. The dismal economy has contributed to the violence afflicting much of the country. bandits or the army,” the paper said.
According to the newspaper, price controls are again the main reason why the boom has ruined public coffers, noting that while elsewhere, as the price of crude rises, drivers pay more at petrol stations, not in the case of Nigeria.
“In January, President Muhammadu Buhari reneged on his latest promise to reform the system, leaving the government to pay for the large gap between Nigeria’s constant low value and global value,” the report added.
With the subsidy through the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company, the newspaper said “the diagnosis is grim. “
Recalling that in June, the World Bank projected that the government would spend N5. 4 trillion or $12. 6 billion on fuel subsidies this year, more than 3 times what it spent last year, the outlet said this is more than accumulating profits. It will get governance from emerging oil prices.
“As a result, Nigeria’s net oil revenues are very likely to be around 40% lower than last year, despite the higher global price. Compress everything else. In this year’s amending budget, the government allocated more to fuel subsidies than to education, health and social coverage combined.
“Price has destructive effects. Because gasoline is artificially cheap, Nigerians burn more. Gasoline intake has increased from about 58 million liters per day in 2021 to about 70 million this year,” NNPC’s figures show.
Another explanation for why Nigeria’s public finances benefit so little from high oil prices, he explained, is that production itself has fallen to 1. 13 million barrels per day, the lowest level in more than 50 years, which is part of the explanation for why the oil industry has also been a drag on overall economic growth.
“One of the reasons for the drop in production is that NNPC has so little money after paying the gas subsidies it is suffering to cover production prices to pump crude oil. However, much of the oil is never counted in Nigeria’s production because it has been stolen,” he said.
Although estimates vary, he quoted the oil industry regulator as revealing that thieves are taking 108,000 barrels per day, or about 7 of production. That, he said, charges the government $1 billion in the first quarter of this year alone.
“The Trans Niger pipeline, which can carry 180,000 barrels per day (about 16% of the country’s current production), has been so stolen that it has been disrupted since June.
“Another giant pipeline carrying 150,000 barrels a day has also been attacked several times. Shell, one of the main oil companies, has declared force majeure since March on all its exports of Bonny Light, a crude, which allows it to default on its contractual obligations,” El Economista added.
According to the report, a way to seek product loans to overload valid shipments with more oil than declared. Another, according to the report, is to enter pipelines and siphon out the oil, then cook it in refineries before promoting it.
Much of the stolen crude goes directly to the foreign market, he noted, adding that small ships travel through the delta’s canals and are filled with illegally operated pipelines.
“They deliver it to offshore tankers or floating oil platforms. Sometimes stolen crude is combined with the legal variety and then sold to buyers who don’t know. However, a lot of it is bought through investors who claim not to know it was stolen or I don’t care,” he said.
“Buhari promised repression. The NNPC’s first resolution to rent personal security corporations to protect pipelines, a telling indictment by the military. But the challenge is unlikely to be resolved.
“Two of the corporations are partly owned by a former warlord, the government of Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo. He led a guerrilla crusade in the 2000s to bring locals to delta oil, before agreeing to a deal in which he would avoid flying pipelines in exchange for amnesty and lucrative security contracts.
“This collapsed under Buhari’s government, which in 2016 issued an arrest warrant for him. However, Tompolo is now strangely a government contractor and is still on the wanted list of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, which says it earned $105 million from corruption. He denies wrongdoing,” the newspaper added.
Prosecuting Suspected Oil Thieves, Senate Orders Military and Security Chiefs
Meanwhile, Senate leaders called on the country’s army chiefs and security agencies to begin prosecuting alleged members of the public involved in the oil theft.
The National Assembly space has also told the judiciary to grant expedited hearings at the behest of oil theft and other bureaucracies of economic sabotage.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan said this in his remarks at a closed-door consultation of the most sensible Red House officials and army and security chiefs to take stock of progress in fighting the country’s lack of confidence.
With Nigeria’s oil subsidy bill skyrocketing in 2022, estimates for the full year would exceed the overall spending of all states in the federation in 2021, which bills $9. 8, according to a new report through a member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Economic Advisory Council and Chief Executive Officer. Financial Derivatives Company Limited (FDC) officer, M. Bismarck Rewane, said on Monday.
The report came as the National Petroleum Company of Nigeria Limited (NNPCL) also revealed that crude oil theft weighs heavily on its consistent performance. to protection considerations that are consistent with oil production at some terminals.
The group’s lead executive, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPMS), Bala Wunti, made the revelation in an interview with reporters in Abuja.
The assembly with the Senate followed a similar assembly in early August and chaired by Lawan.
They attended through Senate Vice President Ovie Omo-Agege, other senior Senate officials and the chairmen of the Senate security committees.
Also present were the Chief of the Defence Staff, the 3 Heads of Service, the Inspector General of Police, the Directors-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the State Security Service (SSS).
Others were the Commanding General of the National Security and Civic Defense Corps while the Acting Comptroller General of the Immigration Service represented.
Lawan deplored the country’s vast theft of crude oil and insisted that the advance must be halted, while the perpetrators must be arrested and prosecuted immediately.
He said: “Those who have gone to great lengths to borrow our oil on a commercial scale, I am sure some of them will possibly not have a chance to escape. “
“We need to see trials for those arrested, because when that happens, citizens will know that no one, regardless of altitude, can escape unscathed if they engage in this type of criminal activity.
“Of course I will appeal to our courts – judicial – once we have cases like this, we have to look at them quickly, because those are the ones who, today, militate against our stability and even against our democracy.
“We are wasting a lot of our oil. As in the last count, the report indicated that we were exporting just over 900,000 barrels. And it’s like 50% because it’s intended to be 1. 8 million barrels a day and it cuts us profit. and resources for progression by half.
“Then I need to call on justice to pay special attention once an alleged oil thief is brought to justice. They will have to be pursued. It’s not enough to take away everything they’ve stolen and tell them not to sin anymore. “
Lawan said the assembly to review the past was held in early August and aimed to review the security scenario in the country.
He said he is pleased that the security scenario in the country has advanced significantly after the August engagement with the security and army chiefs.
He said: “Before the end of our annual summer vacation, prominent senators and, indeed, members of the National Assembly expressed so many considerations about the prevailing security scenario and we feel that we will have to have interaction with our security agencies so that in combination we can continue to deal with those demanding situations in our country.
“I am satisfied and I am sure to say the opinion of my colleagues, that after this meeting, to this day, we have noticed a remarkable difference in the fight against the lack of confidence in our country through our armed forces and other security agencies and we are very proud of it.
“We pray that this will continue because we have noticed the initiative and it is up to us to finish the job. When the president talked about us going back to being generals until December 2022, I’m sure he had in mind what he’s been doing recently. .
“I think you, our armed forces and other security agencies have everything in terms of morality and determination, even if we still have to provide additional support. The aim of this assembly is therefore to take stock of what has happened so far. “
“While we fight against the lack of confidence in the country, we capture the bandits alive. “
Lawan also asked security chiefs to put them (lawmakers) in confidence in the closed session.
“We are guilty. There are things that we know are very sensitive, but some things are dealt with more when we are on the same page so that we do not also legislate blindfolded or without the fundamental information.
“Where there are requests or needs to strengthen the capacity and competence of the armed forces and other security agencies, I think we also deserve this to be a priority,” the Senate president said.
Falana: I have proof that the government knows about the theft and smuggling of crude oil
Meanwhile, Falana revealed that he had indications that members of the government were involved in the theft of crude oil and the smuggling of petroleum products into the country.
This was just as he threatened to disclose the crude oil supply and smuggling cartel to members of the government.
Falana made the revelation yesterday, a two-day leadership retreat organised by the Labour Party in Abuja, with industry unions, captains of industry and other public sector and personal stakeholders.
Falana, who spoke on the occasion titled: “Nigeria on Cross Road; the Labour Party the only option,” he said the government cannot pretend to forget the identity of criminals in the upstream and downstream sectors of the country, adding that until this moment the challenge is resolved, Nigerians will continue to live at the mercy of a few criminals.
He said: “Today, the government is raising the value of fuel to N500. I need to put it on record here, about seven years ago, the government spent a whopping N50 billion to get software from the Oil Equalization Fund to track and monitor all tankers loading fuel into any component of the country.
“Today, they are told that Nigerians deserve to be punished for the dishonest activities of some other people. That the government will punish others for the dishonest activities of a few.
“We have learned that the Comptroller General of Customs has publicly stated that it is about smuggling about 10 million liters of consistent fuel per day. Where did they go?
“Nigeria is the only country where the government will say we are wasting $7 million every day on oil theft. Nigeria is the only oil-producing country without knowing how much oil it produces daily.
“Five hundred tankers loading 36,000 liters of fuel. The NNPC has shown that yes, that’s what’s happening. Who are the oil thieves? They know them. Oil theft, oil hugs, everyone has an official partner,” Falana said.
He pointed out that there is an organization called Lloyd, which has records of each and every oil transaction in the world, and says that the federal government has access to it, “and yet we say we don’t know who is stealing our oil or where is the oil going to?
“So the government knows and if they need information, we can get it to the government. If you are safe, you need to know who is robbing us and who is ruining our country.
“In the 2023 budget, the government announced that it would spend N453 billion on fuel subsidies. In June, the President submitted a supplementary budget to the National Assembly bringing the budget to 4 trillion naira. The National Assembly debated and followed it.
“Now the finance minister says that figure will go to N6. 5 trillion, that in next year’s budget there will be no capital projects.
“I challenge the Nigerian Labour Congress, the TUC and others that they will have to confront once and for all the root of this crime. We will make a decision today. We will create a committee. I have all the right data to disclose. “All criminals fuel smuggling and criminals oil theft.
Also speaking, Obi said he would not blame the country’s previous government for his failure to elect him as president next year, saying he would do so in solving the country’s economy.
Obi, who welcomed the occasion through the founding fathers of the Labour Party; its national president, Julius Abure; the leadership of the NLC, headed by its president, Ayuba Waba; the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC); Professor Pat Utomi, Sam Amadi, Doyin Okupe, among other dignitaries and party leaders from the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, expressed their project to solve problems.
He said he intended to introduce the government to victimize former leaders, but to deal with the demanding situations plaguing the country’s economy.
Obi said, “My project here is to pay attention and take note. It would be a disappointing and serious slavery to the Nigerian way of life, if the Labour Party made such efforts and supported to lead this country and it would fail. God forgive him. “
“For me, I need to listen. I need to take note. This note is for me because I don’t need to make excuses. I don’t need to get into that and start blaming former leaders.
“If they had done better, I wouldn’t have wanted to rent. They rent me to solve problems, to remind Nigerians where they come from. “
“By the time you wonder what’s wrong with Nigeria, ASUU has been on strike for seven months. What ASUU is asking for is an agreement that has been reached since 2009, when I was governor of Anambra state. ASUU is asking for N1. 3 billion Are we saying that Nigeria cannot raise 1. 3 trillion naira for schooling in 12 years?
“Our oil is now stolen. For the oil to be stolen, a shipment through the military must be allowed to enter Niger’s waters. Who approves the arrival of the shipment and who steals the oil?1. 3 trillion naira are involved in those shady cases.
“Besides Venezuela facing sanctions, Nigeria is the only OPEC country that is accumulating its quota. In fact, other countries are asking to produce more.
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