By Hauwa Ali
The Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has disclosed that from 2009-2020, about 619.7 million barrels of crude oil, valued at about N16.25 trillion have been stolen.
NEITI Head, Communications and Advocacy, Obiageli Onuora disclosed this in a statement made available on Wednesday.
According to her, the information and data was provided by an average of eight companies, for 11 years.
A breakdown of the data showed hat in 2009, when NEITI commenced reporting of crude oil theft, Nigeria lost 69.49 million barrels, valued at $4.31billion.
The figures for 2010, 2011 and 2012 revealed that 28.31million, 38.61 million and 51.58 million barrels, valued at $2.29 billion, $4.39 billion and $5.82 billion, respectively, were lost.
The NEITI oil and gas industry reports for 2013 to 2020 also showed that the losses did not abate as 78.30 million barrels, valued at $8.55 billion, were lost in 2013 alone. 2014 and 2015 witnessed combined losses of 67.29 million barrels, valued at $5.57billion.
According to the reports, 2016 recorded the highest losses of 101.05 million barrels, valued at $4.42 billion. The combined value of these losses is 619.7 million barrels amounting to $46.16 billion over a 12-year period.
“It is regrettable that at a time Nigeria’s economy is largely dependent on oil revenues, some Nigerians would choose to collude with foreign nationals to steal and sabotage the main sources of revenue for the federation,” NEITI said.