Whoever emerges Nigeria’s next president after the February 2023 general elections will need to work hard to increase the country’s oil production.
This is according to Professor Chika Mordi, the Chairman of the Board at United Capital Plc and an adjunct professor of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, USA.
Professor Mordi stated this earlier today during an interview on The Morning Show on Arise TV on Saturday, December 17.
According to him, the next president will need to take action steps that will increase the country’s revenues. One of these revenue pathways is increased oil production. He maintained that to increase production, crude oil theft must be stopped.
Right candidate to deliver this goal: He went further to state that Nigerians need to vote for a candidate that is capable of driving a credible agenda for change that is superior to previous agendas driven by past government administrations.
- Mordi, who identified as non-partisan during the show, also said that Nigeria is revenue-challenged due to the crude oil sector decline and other economic challenges.
- He also highlighted the fact that as a result of revenue challenges, Nigeria is borrowing a lot, leading to increased debts for the country.
Oil sector contribution to the GDP: Nigeria’s oil sector contributed 5.66% to the country’s total real gross domestic product (GDP) in Q3/2022. This is according to the Nigerian GDP report for Q3/2022, released on November 24 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
- The 5.66% recorded in Q3/2022 is down from the figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2021 and the preceding quarter, where it contributed 7.49% and 6.33% respectively.
- The real growth of the oil industry was –22.67% year-on-year in Q3/2022 indicating a decrease of 11.94% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2021.
Crude oil theft damage: On December 6, 2022, Nairametrics reported that the country’s National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno warned that the Federal Government may lose an estimated $23 billion in 2023 if the crude oil theft challenge persists in the country.
- However, before that, Umar I. Ajiya, the chief financial officer at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited said Nigeria loses $150 million in revenue every other day from pipeline vandalism and sideline production.
- In October 2022, Gbenga Komolafe, the chief executive officer at the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said Nigeria lost $1 billion in revenue in Q1/2022.
- He estimated that 132 million barrels of oil were exported in Q1/2022 out of 141 million barrels produced, suggesting that almost nine million barrels of crude oil were lost to crude oil theft. This translates to a loss of roughly $1 billion in government revenue in the quarter under review.
For the record: Prof. Mordi also noted there is nothing more to be done in this regard by the Buhari administration since it has about five months more in office. He noted that it is up to the next administration to keep the anti-crude oil theft momentum going.
