The drastic drop in crude oil production and consequent drop in revenue has become a matter of concern to Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, who has offered support to tackle the issues causing the drop.
Governor Otti assured of his support when he received in the audience a delegation from the Defence Headquarters Joint Monitoring Team, led by Major Gen. JAL Jimoh, on a working visit to Abia State.
According to him, the trend formed part of his discussion in a recent visit to the National Security Adviser, saying that available statistics show that in the last three months of June, July and August, the average oil production level hovered around 1.4 million barrels per day, which he observed was far below Nigeria’s crude oil quota of 2.2 million barrels per day.
Lamenting the present crude oil production level, the Governor recalled that 20 years ago, Nigeria’s crude oil production capacity was about 2.5 million barrels per day.
“Around 20 years ago, I believe that was in 2005, our production capacity, not even the quota, was about 2.5m barrels a day. So, the difference between 2.5 million barrels and 1.4 barrels also speaks to the challenges because if you are not exporting enough oil, you are not going to generate enough foreign currency to deal with all the issues that we have in the country,” the Governor stated.
Otti also explained that because Nigeria’s economy was presently largely import-dependent, the crisis in the foreign exchange market today could have been tamed by a simple improvement in the quantity of oil produced and exported in a demand-and-supply situation.
He assured the team of support to help it succeed in the assignment and urged it to work with heads of security agencies in the State.
“We have everything that it takes. All the problems are man-made problems, be it the oil theft, be it the crisis, insurrection in the Niger Delta. And, I believe that with determination and a lot of efforts that you are making, we will tame this oil theft so that our country will improve in terms of foreign exchange receipts and reduce the insurrection we have everywhere.”
Earlier in his speech, the leader of the monitoring team, Major Gen. JAL Jimoh, said the Joint Monitoring Team was recently constituted to carry out oversight on some of the most pressing challenges faced by the country’s vital crude oil sector and assured that no effort would be spared to restore optimal operational efficiency in the oil sector.
Jimoh said the team had the “mandate to ensure robust monitoring and oversight across activities related to crude oil and gas extraction, transportation, and security within all the oil-producing areas of the country.”
He said the visit to Governor Otti was to acknowledge his invaluable support to the initiative and underscore their commitment towards transparency and cooperative engagement with all stakeholders involved.