By Obiabin Onukwugha
The Nigerian Senate has revealed that a whooping $300billion, an equivalent of N432,750trillion, is missing in Nigeria’s oil sector.
The revelation was made by the senate ad hoc committee investigating crude oil theft and related sabotage in the Niger Delta region.
Presenting the report during plenary on Wednesday, Chairman of the ad hoc committee and Senator representing Delta North, Ned Nwoko, stated that the committee’s findings so far indicates “massive” revenue losses of more than $300 billion from unaccounted-for crude oil proceeds over the years.
He mentioned that forensic review by the consultant shows over $22 billion, $81 billion and $200 billion, respectively remains unaccounted for.
The senator said the report recommends strict enforcement of internationally recognised crude oil measurement standards at all production sites and export terminals.
The committee also recommended that the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) should be mandated to acquire modern measuring technology, or the responsibility should be restored to the weights and measures department under the federal ministry of industry, trade and investment.
Nwoko said the committee also recommended that the federal government should deploy surveillance technology, including unmanned aerial vehicles, to support security agencies in tackling oil theft.
He said the report further recommended for the establishment of a maritime trust fund to improve maritime training, safety, and security.
“The federal government should set up a special court to promptly prosecute crude oil thieves properly and their collaborators.
“The federal government should immediately implement the host communities development trust fund under the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, to reduce sabotage.
“All abandoned and decommissioned wells should be completely ceded to NUPRC who should in turn hand such wells to modular refineries to reduce sabotage and increase crude availability for local
consumption.
“The ad hoc committee should be given the mandate to track, trace and recover all proceeds of stolen crude oil both locally and internationally, as forensic review by the consultant shows over $22 billion, $81 billion and $200 billion remains unaccounted,” he said.
The report also recommended that the Senate empowers the committee to “track and trace” proceeds of stolen crude oil locally and internationally.
Commenting on the report, Senator Solomon Adeola, representing Ogun west, on his part called on the consultant to provide names of companies and individuals involved involved in the missing monies, saying, “The funds mentioned in this report, if put together, we are talking about $300 billion dollars. The consultant should come up with a detailed list of those who carried out these actions.”
