Nigeria lost about 619.7 million barrels of crude oil valued at $46.16 billion to theft between 2009 and 2020, a new report by the Fair Finance Nigeria (FFNG) coalition has revealed.
The report, titled “Community Voices on Oil, Finance, and the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA): A Case Study of Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa States”, launched in Abuja, revealed how weak regulation, systemic corruption, and alleged complicity of some security agencies and oil companies have enabled crude theft on an industrial scale.
The report said the development is depriving the country of vital revenue and worsening poverty in oil-producing communities.
The coalition comprises BudgIT, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Connected Development (CODE), Oxfam in Nigeria, Policy Alert, and Steps to Sustainable Transformation, Empowerment Foundation (STEPS), and is supported by the Swedish international development agency, Sida.
Despite oil and gas accounting for 89.23 per cent of Nigeria’s exports in the third quarter of 2023, the report revealed that benefits are not trickling down to host communities.
t noted that while the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) secured over $10.3 billion in syndicated loans from local and international financiers between 2020 and 2023, most oil-producing communities in Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states still face severe environmental degradation, economic exclusion, and poor governance.
The study also found that despite a legal requirement under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 for oil companies to contribute annually to the Host Communities Development Trusts (HCDTs), estimated between $500 million and $800 million, only $21.753 million was remitted between 2022 and 2023.
This shortfall, according to the coalition, has crippled development projects and worsened living conditions in the Niger Delta.