Nigeria’s Oil Revenue Strategy Is Leaving Nigerians With Costly Fuel

I watched a recent television interview with Taiwo Oyedele and was concerned by the comparison of Nigeria’s petrol situation with countries such as the United States, Venezuela, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. These countries operate under very different conditions, including their currencies, energy policies, production systems and resource management. Nigeria’s problem is not simply the size of its population or the volume of crude produced. It is also how much crude is committed to forward sales and joint-venture obligations, how much is lost to theft or under-declaration, and how much is available for domestic refining. Nigerians deserve clear figures on the crude the country actually controls and the volume allocated to local refineries. I believe Nigeria can reduce local fuel costs by prioritising domestic sufficiency. A fixed volume of crude should be supplied to local refineries in naira at a transparent production-based price, while export volumes can be sold at international prices. This should be supported by functioning refineries, stronger regulation and real-time independent metering from production sites to export terminals. We do not only have a resource problem. We have a management and accountability problem. Oil production figures, crude commitments and losses should be publicly reported so Nigerians can see how their national resources are being managed.

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