The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has stated that Nigeria generated over 831.14 billion dollars in revenue from the oil and gas sector between 1999 and 2023.
NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Ogbonnaya Orji, stated this on Monday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts.
He also stated that the country requires $20 billion annually for the next 10 years to develop its gas infrastructure.
The committee, chaired by Senator Ahmed Wadada, was receiving briefings on the findings of NEITI’s 16-cycle reports covering 78 firms in the extractive industries.
The NEITI boss also declared that Nigeria generated over 831.14 billion dollars in revenue from the oil and gas sector between 1999 and 2023.
He, however, noted that crude oil theft over the years has cost the country an estimated 701.48 million barrels since 2009, when NEITI began tracking losses.
Speaking about the solid minerals sector, Orji disclosed that it contributed 1.56trillion naira of revenue between 2021 and 2023.
However, he said the sector still contributed less than one percent to the country’s GDP in spite of all the ongoing efforts by the government.
The top states in solid minerals activities in 2021, according to NEITI, are Ogun, Kogi, Cross Rivers and the Federal Capital Territory.
The agency called for a review of the Solid Minerals Act to further ease up operations in the sector, just like the PIA was passed to address challenges in the oil and gas sector.
He further also disclosed that 6.1 billion dollars in outstanding revenue from royalties had yet to be collected by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
Orji again highlighted concerns about the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), stating that the absence of a clear strategy has allowed industry players to operate with minimal oversight.
He recalled that ex-President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration had set up a committee to develop an implementation framework for the PIA, but the committee failed to conclude its work before the new government took over in May 2023.
He said, “The PIA is now being implemented without a plan or strategy, We recommend that either a new committee is set up or the work of the previous one is revisited.”
Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts has announced plans to conduct a public hearing on revenue generation by agencies such as the NNPCL, FIRS, and NUPRC.
Senator Aliyu Wadada confirmed that the agencies would be summoned to explain their revenue operations. “We are going to invite all of them; we will conduct a public hearing on the revenue operations,” he said.
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