Abuja — The speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, has said crude oil theft in the country amounts to treason, recommending that it should be punished by the stiffest possible penalty.
Gbajabiamila, as reported by Reuters, said Nigeria’s crude exports were at their lowest in two decades due to crude theft, which he described as “treason against our country”.
Nigeria’s oil production fell below 1 million barrels per day in August, according to from the nation’s industry regulator.
“Those who seek to impoverish our country in this manner have declared war against the Nigerian people,” he told legislators at the reconvened sitting of the House of Representatives after a two-month break.
“The government’s response must be sufficient to convince them of the error of their ways and deter others who might be tempted to join in their treason,” Reuters further quoted him as saying.
Indeed, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission recently reported that the nation’s oil production fell below 1 million barrels per day, bpd, in August as the nation grappled with rampant theft from its pipelines and years of underinvestment.
The production decline is a further threat to strained finances in Africa’s most populous nation and cuts global oil supply amid soaring energy costs due to the war in Ukraine.
President Muhammadu Buhari last month expressed concern over large-scale theft of crude oil, saying it was affecting the country’s revenue “enormously”.
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