Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum, says every year, Nigeria loses at least $80 billion to vandalism of oil facilities in the Niger Delta region.
Militants are responsible for attacks on oil assets.
Kachikwu made this known at the resumed dialogue with Niger Delta stakeholders in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state capital.
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo led a federal government delegation to Bayelsa on Friday.
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Kachikwu said at least 10,000 sabotage incidents were recorded annually at oilfields across the region.
He regretted that within the last decade, estimated $30 billion revenue accrued to the Niger Delta area by way of derivation, but that the region had continued to wallow in abject poverty.
Kachikwu urged people of the area to contribute ideas toward the resolution of crises in the zone “and add value as well as derive some gains from the natural endowments of the region”.
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Appealing to the people to give peace a chance, Kachikwu said the challenges of the region could be turned into opportunities.
1 comments
I don’t expect someone at the level of a Minister of the Federal Republic to go on making such imprecise statements like “Every year, Nigeria loses at least $80 billion to vandalism of oil facilities in the Niger Delta region!” Was this also prevalent during the Amnesty period despite late President Yar Ar Dua’s efforts to ensure that the Amnesty Program stayed the course? Playing politics with such a sensitive issue is not going to meet the objective of getting the production quotas fulfilled. We need a honest discussion and analysis of this issue because there is a lot of smoke being poured on this issue of sabotage by the “militants”! The psychological underpinnings of the militants has to be probed and understood, otherwise the dream of having a stable oil-derived economy may be a dream. The handling of the whole issue so far by the current regime has been less than satisfactory going by the results! Excuses will not serve now, its results that take the rostrum by storm! No gas, no electricity! Militants too are blowing up gas lines, kidnapping people and stealing product from product lines apart from pipeline vandalisation! The Minister needs to realize we are not all inexact people he can fob off with such sweeping generalisations!