By Seyi Babalola
The Nigerian Government has spent more than $1.5 billion to secure Nigeria’s oil infrastructure and reduce crude oil theft.
George Akume, the Secretary of the Government of the Federation (SGF), made the statement on Thursday during a House of Representatives public hearing on crude oil theft.
The SGF, who was represented by Maurice Nandi, the Permanent Secretary, of General Services, expressed concern over the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative’s (NEITI) report.
Reacting to the report, he explained that “The FG was concerned about the report. The House Representative had set up a special committee headed by Ado Doguwa, the Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Upstream, to investigate the losses in the oil and gas sector.”
Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, who was also represented by Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, said “$10 billion has been lost to crude oil theft in seven months, and no magic can be done by the government with such a loss.”
