Massive oil theft, among other challenges, in the country, is threatening naira stability and affecting government finances.
The Central Bank of Nigeria disclosed this in a report by a member of the Monetary Policy Committee, Prof. Mike Obadan.
Obadan, a professor of economics and also chairman of Goldmark Education Academy, Benin City, dealt with the topic ‘Is deregulation the solution to the forex/exchange rate problem?’
He said, “For a long time, the oil sector has contributed over 90 percent of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings and external reserves accretion.
“It has also been a significant contributor to the government’s naira revenue through crude oil and gas export receipts.
“But for some time now, this has not been so due to two factors: a huge volume of crude oil theft which has prevented the country from meeting even the OPEC-approved production quota, and the inability of the NNPC, for many months, to make any remittance from direct oil export sales into the federation account and external reserves account.
“These are alarming developments which have adversely impacted government’s finances, external reserves accretion, and exchange rate stability.”
