Nigerian lawmakers have begun a probe into the sale of stolen 48 million barrels of crude oil to China.
“It is quite alarming that illegal deals with China cost Nigeria $2.4 billion revenue loss from the sale of stolen 48 million barrels,” Nigeria’s Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila said in Abuja on Tuesday, at the opening of the ad hoc committee set up to probe the deals.
He said Nigeria loses $700 million monthly to oil theft, a menace that impacts negatively on the country’s national budget.
“Available data suggests that we may lose up to $23 billion to crude oil theft this year and between January and July last year, Nigeria lost $10 billion to the oil theft,” Gbajabiamila added.
He noted that the oil and gas sector remained the main contributors of Nigeria’s economy as it accounted for its 95 percent of foreign exchange earnings and 80 percent of annual budgeted revenue.
