Nigeria: The government has verified that 80% of Nigeria’s oil production is lost to theft, according to Enoch Adeboye, general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).
The cleric stated 90 percent of oil money is utilised to service debt in Nigeria while delivering a sermon at the church’s monthly thanksgiving ceremony on Sunday.
“More than 80% of the oil we produce is stolen, and nobody has denied it; it all comes from the government,” Adeboye stated.
“Who is the thief of the oil?” Where does the money go? Some people are getting their hands on 80% of what should have been a nation’s income. What are their plans for the funds? Who are the foreign countries that are purchasing this stolen oil? How many of these countries in the world do you consider friends?
“We use more than 90% of our income from the stolen oil’s leftovers to pay the interest on the money we’ve already borrowed, and then it becomes news.” I’m sure you’ve heard the news. We’re taking out more loans.”
Figures on the level of oil theft in the country have recently been released.
Tony Elumelu, head of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, stated last month that oil thieves steal 95% of production.
“Businesses are in trouble. He wondered aloud, “How can we be losing almost 95 percent of our oil production to thieves?”
According to Austin Avuru, former chief executive officer of Seplat Energy Plc, 80 percent of Nigeria’s oil output is lost due to oil theft in particular oilfields.
CLAIM ONE: AN 80% LOSS DUE TO OIL THEFT
Nigeria loses more than 115,000 barrels per day (bpd) to oil theft and vandalism between January 2021 and February 2022, amounting to $3.27 billion in crude oil, according to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
As a result, the country lost around 7.6% of the current average daily crude production of 1.5 million barrels.
Furthermore, if the cleric is correct and 80 percent of Nigeria’s crude oil is stolen, that implies we generate around 300,000 barrels per day, when officials estimate 1.5 million.
The NUPRC recently raised concern about “crude loss numbers lately published in the media by several operators, given efforts done so far on the matter,” according to the organisation.
The NUPRC announced the formation of a team to evaluate the actions of upstream firms in order to determine the exact volume of oil lost to theft.
“To verify the authenticity of these accusations, the Commission has engaged all required processes to get to the bottom of the situation and confirm the actual volume of crude stolen as opposed to the claimed levels,” the commission stated.
VERDICT
The notion that the government has backed the claim that oil theft accounts for 80% of Nigeria’s oil production is FALSE.
According to the regulator’s records, just 7.6% of crude oil is stolen.
CLAIM TWO: MORE THAN 90% OF NIGERIA’S REVENUES WERE USED TO PAY OFF DEBTS
More than 90% of Nigeria’s oil revenue, according to Adeboye, is spent to service the country’s debt.
In 2020, debt servicing consumed N3.34 trillion of the federal government’s total revenue of N3.42 trillion.
In other words, for every N100 in income collected during the period under review, N97 was spent on debt servicing.
Between January and November 2021, the federal government spent N4.2 trillion on debt servicing, according to Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget, and national planning. This amount represents 76.2 percent of the total N5.51 trillion generated over the time.
In addition, according to budget office data, the federal government’s overall revenue inflow was N3.49 trillion in the first three quarters of 2021, with N3.42 trillion going toward debt service. This means that the debt service to revenue ratio for the period under consideration was 97.9%.
VERDICT
It is TRUE that the federal government spends almost 90% of its revenue on debt repayment.
