Speaker of House of Repreentatives, Yakubu Dogara blamed Niger Delta militant activities for current economic recession in Nigeria.
- He said the actions of the militants cost Nigeria to lose its position as the largest producer and exporter of oil in the African continent
The speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has blamed Niger Delta militants’ activities as the reason Nigeria fell from its position as largest producer of oil in Africa.
He made this accusation on Monday while delivering his opening remarks at an investigative hearing on the alleged violation of the Public Procurement Act and abuses of the Amnesty Programme jointly organized by the House of Representatives Committees on Public Procurement and Niger Delta Affairs.
Militants activities cost Nigeria to lose its position as the largest producer and exporter of oil in African - Dogara
Daily Post reports that Dogara said that in 2016, the intense militancy activities that raged in the Niger Delta region and the rising security risks which hindered the exploration of oil and economic activities in the region, resulted in a drastic reduction in Nigeria’s oil production capacity and revenues; foreign direct investment and the dwindling of the nation’s economy.
He said: “It is worthy of note that the activities of the militants cost, Nigeria, the giant of Africa, to lose its position as the largest producer and exporter of oil in the African continent.
“According to Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Nigeria lost between $50 billion and $100 billion in oil revenues to militant attacks on installations in 2016. At a point, he said, the attacks cut production to 1.2 million barrels a day — a loss of 1 million barrels a day.
“Indeed Nigeria lost about 3,000 MW of electricity to militancy activities in the Niger Delta, since then, according to Raji Fashola (SAN) – the Hon Minister of Works, Power, and Housing.”
He however urged stakeholders to empower Niger Delta region so as to limit militant activities in the area.
He said: “Let me use this opportunity to state that a more permanent solution which directly empowers the areas and stakeholders where oil and gas is produced should be instituted in order to achieve better fiscal, social and environmental equity. It is in this regard, that we welcome the recent announcement of the Hon Minister of State, Petroleum, of the unveiling of a 20-point agenda aimed at instituting permanent peace in the oil-producing region.”
Meanwhile, a group of militant groups known as the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC) has told Bayelsa state Governor Seriake Dickson to apologise to Ijaw woman activist Annkio Briggs or face their anger.
JRC accused Dickson of being behind an alleged assault on Briggs after she and others were attacked by hoodlums during a recent peaceful protest in Yenagoa, capital of the oil-rich south-south state a week ago over the allocation of 1, 200 hectares of land to Fulani herdsmen for cattle grazing.
