President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Niger Delta militants who vandalised oil pipelines contributed to a drop in Nigeria’s oil revenue.
The President disclosed this in an interview with the Nigerian Television Authorities, NTA, on Friday.
“I want Nigerians to be fair to this administration. They should reflect seriously the time we came, expecially relative to North East and South South, where we are now…”
“Resources, what are we producing? What was the administration before me producing? 2.1 million barrels per day for an average of 100 American dollars per barrel.”
“When we came, somehow, the militants in the south south were unleashed on this administration and production went down to half a million barrel per day and then, again, the oil market collapsed.”
Although President Buhari failed to mention the name of the group, all indications point at the Niger-Delta Avengers. The group, which was formally declared in 2016, have attacked oil-producing facilities in the delta, causing the shutdown of oil terminals and a fall in Nigeria’s oil production to its lowest level in twenty years.
The attacks caused Nigeria to fall behind Angola as Africa’s largest oil producer and the reduced oil output has hampered the Nigerian economy which is largely dependent on oil revenue.
It should be noted that POLITICS NIGERIA had previously fact-checked the President’s claim of 100 dollars per barrel under previous governments and found it to be entirely false.
“Since records and POLITICS NIGERIA’s analysis showed that crude oil sold for an average of $61.7 per barrel between 1999 to 2014, the President’s claim of $100 per barrel is FALSE,” this newspaper concluded.
Meanwhile, during the Friday interview, the President also touched on other salient issues particularly the security challenges and his handing over in 2023.
