The Federal Government realised the sum of $305billion as revenue inflows from the oil and gas sector from 2014 to 2024, it was learnt yesterday.
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (NEITI), disclosed this when its executive secretary/national Coordinator, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji appeared before the Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) in Abuja.
According to Orji in his presentation on the 2021 – 2023 reports on Oil, Gas and Solid Minerals in the country, said Nigeria earned $54.5 in 2014, $24.79 in 2015, $17.05 in 2016, $20.9 – 2017, $32.62 – 2018, $34.21 – 2019, $20.43 – 2020, $23.04 – 2021, $35.7 – 2022 and $30.86 in 2023.
Orji further disclosed that the country earned $831.14 from the oil and gas sector from 1999 – 2023.
He said the country produced 800.49 barrels of crude oil in 2013, 798.60 barrels in 2014, 776.6 – 2015, 659.30 – 2016, 690.50 – 2017, 701.10 – 2018, 735.20 – 2019, 646.70 – 2020, 656.20 – 2021, 490.95 – 2022 and 537.00 – 2023.
He equally put the amount of crude oil losses from 2009 to 2023 at 701.48 million barrels.
Orji who told the lawmakers that Gas Production in the country between 2019 and 2023, stood at 13,817,622 Standard Cubic Feet (scf), however added that Nigeria requires injection of $200billion into gas infrastructure for maximization of the natural resources as the ninth highest gas producer in the World and number one in Africa.
However, the SPAC chaired by Senator Aliyu Ahmed Wadada decried a situation where the solid minerals sector contributed less than one per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on yearly basis describing it as unacceptable.
Orji said the $200billion is required to put in place the requisite infrastructure to increase the production of gas resources in the country.