Mohammed Shosanya
Anti-corruption group,Human and Environmental Development Agenda, HEDA Resource Centre,says only sixteen of the thirty six oil terminals in Nigeria are metered.
The group lamented that the development makes it difficult to monitor oil and gas production and distribution at local and international markets.
Nigeria,the group said,can save N200billion annually if proper measures are taken to block undue leakages in the country’s hydrocarbon industry.
The country needs to work with all stakeholders including security, media, community based organisations and anti-graft groups in order to bring back Nigeria from the brink of economic downturn,the group advised.
The group made the recommendations at a recent international conference on anti-corruption held in Abuja, with the theme ‘‘Nigeria and the Fight Against Corruption-Reviewing the Buhari Regime and Setting Agenda for the Tinubu Administration’’
According to the group,the funds recovered through stringent anti-corruption measures in the oil and gas sector will help Nigeria regain her floundering economic fortunes.
It added:“Nigeria is at a critical moment. People are passing through very difficult times. With a debt profile of N77trillion, an extremely poor debt service ratio, the country is in a quagmire. The surest way to recovery is to decisively fight corruption.
“Recovery of stolen funds and an end to graft in the oil sector will see Nigeria witness upsurge in revenue to meet the needs of Nigerians who are at the end of the stick”
The group maintained that corruption is associated with poverty,violence and all sorts of extremism, adding that sustained culture of corruption remains a threat to democracy and that for close to two decades,it has led a fierce campaign for accountability and transparency across all sectors in Nigeria to the admiration of many institutions and peoples across the world.
Human rights lawyer,Femi Falana,who participated at the conference,revealed that some $62billion were outstanding royalties which the oil companies have failed to pay to the government in the last 18 years.
Also speaking, Gbenga Komolafe, Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission,disclosed that the the country has acquired a new technology that would effectively monitor oil production, distribution and exportation making it difficult to steal the country’s main revenue source.
He said the federal government is now better placed to prevent theft of oil and gas now better prepared to put the country on the path to full economic recovery.
