Business Nigeria Loses $1.6bn to Oil Thieves Every Month- Okonjo Iweala

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The Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala on Thursday told Newsmen in Washington that the Federal government of Nigeria loses N160 billion ($1billion) revenue every month to oil theft.

Okonjo Iweala said that the current production figure was lower than the actual oil production level in 2012 and lower than the projected output of 2.528 million barrel per day in the 2013 budget.

"In dealing with the impact of this on the revenue, the government has had to draw on the Excess Crude Account which was set up precisely for this purpose that is to deal with unanticipated losses due to output and price variation.

"This has reduced the balance in the excess Crude Account to about 6.9 billion dollars,’’ she said

She added that the president had been briefed on these developments and action were being taken on different front to stabilise the situation.

According to her, the president has ordered the Navy to increase its patrols around the hotspots of oil theft and illegal bunkering.

The minister also said the nation had also witnessed shortfall in other sources of revenue including the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and the Nigerian Customs services.

She said to help cushion the effect; government would roll out strategies to improve tax generation and administration to ensure the diversification of the revenue base.


#Nigeria #NNPC #NgoziOkonjoIweala #FIRS
 

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