By Tunde Olatunji
During the national budget presentation on Friday October 7, 2022, Nigeria’s Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, confirmed that an average of 800,000 barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil is stolen every single day.
My thoughts:
1. Crude oil currently sells for about $92 per barrel.
2. At N432 to a dollar (official rate), Nigeria loses N31.7billion revenue every day and about N954billion every month.
3. Using N740 to a dollar (black market rate), Nigeria loses N54.4billion daily and about N1.63trillion monthly.
My take:
No nation can survive or prosper with this degree of monumental revenue loss and theft?
If today, Nigeria declares state of emergency on oil theft and deploys all its powers and resources to secure her oil assets and put an end to this national disaster, a lot of changes can happen:
1. Nigeria can make about N2.6trillion naira (official rate) or N4.5 trillion (unofficial rate) from oil revenue between now and December 31, 2022.
2. Nigeria can grow its forex liquidity with about $6.1billion and the naira exchange rate will appreciate before year end.
3. Universities can be opened and students can go back to school. Destinies and futures are at stake for goodness’ sake!
4. Continued borrowings to fund budget deficit can be checked.
5. The country’s debt service to revenue ratio that has become unsustainable can be brought down.
These are just few out of what is achievable in this country within 83 days with clear focus and sincerity of purpose.
The CEO of NNPC, Mr. Mele Kyari said earlier last week that NNPC just uncovered a four-kilometre oil theft pipeline that pumps stolen crude from a terminal into the sea about six weeks ago. And that the said pipeline had been functional for nine years.
This singular discovery alone shows the level of unseriousness and insincerity in the nation. How can four (4) kilometers of pipelines be laid successfully in the first instance and nobody is aware, not to even imagine how it pumped stolen crude oil unchecked for good nine years, until six weeks ago. What a nation!
Like I maintained in my previous writeups and media engagements, Nigeria is too blessed to be distressed and this country has no business with her level of abject poverty and penury at all.
May God save and heal our land, Nigeria bleeds!
Tunde Olatunji, Chief Whip, Osun State House of Assembly, can be reached via info@tundeolatunji.com