Nigeria, the world’s eighth-largest exporter of crude oil, loses at least 300 000 barrels to thieves every day, the governor of Delta State in the oil-rich Niger Delta, James Ibori, said on Wednesday.
As an Opec (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) member, Nigeria has a daily production quota of 2,1-million barrels per day, which accounts for 90%of its total annual foreign exchange earnings.
Ibori, who was in Abuja to attend an emergency meeting of Nigeria’s 36 governors and the former national leaders of Africa’s most populous nation, said illegal bunkering was giving the Nigerian government sleepless nights.
He said Nigeria lost not less than $3,5-billion annually to illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalism and that it was time a halt was put to the activities of economic saboteurs before they bled the nation dry.
The governor said the federal government had identified the crude oil thieves and their customers but declined to name any.
However, Ibori said the government would take steps to persuade some countries and individuals who patronised the crude oil thieves to desist.
Another leader speaking to the media after the emergency meeting was the governor of the northern Jigawa State, Saminu Turaki, who said the governors discussed with President Olusegun Obasanjo ways to curb the excesses of Liberian refugees in Nigeria.
The refugees are camped at the Oru Refugee Village in Ogun State in the south-west.
Turaki said reports said some of the refugees came into Nigeria with arms and ammunition that they lent or sold to criminals operating in and near Lagos. He said the government was alarmed at the attitude of the Liberians involved and would take immediate steps to curtail the situation. – Sapa-DPA