The National Economic Council has mandated the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, to verify the claims on Nigeria’s declining crude oil production status.
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The Council says the country cannot be discovering new oil fields and yet be recording a drop in its production.
Reading the resolutions of the council on Thursday in Abuja, the Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule told State House Correspondents at the end of the 136th September Council meeting that the NEC members are concerned about the crude oil productivity level of Nigeria.
Governor Sule said that Nigeria expects the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC, to increase the country’s oil quota and not to decrease its efficiency.
In his words, “Because that is one area that we are concerned, we cannot be having more oil discoveries in the oil fields and yet we are having declining production when it comes to that because we expect OPEC to increase our quota not to decrease it so we can take advantage of economic situation the way it is.”
Speaking on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework & Fiscal Strategy Paper, MTEF-FSP for 2024-2026, Governor Sule said that the Council is focusing on addressing the effects of the ongoing Russia-Ukrainian war on the plan.
He further mentioned the continued dwindling revenue of the non-oil sectors affecting states across the country.
“We considered specific key issues and factors that may affect the plan btw 2024-2026, one of such is the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war, and challenges State governments have continued to face on revenue allocation across the state, it is not a secret that we continue to see decline revenue in some of the sectors especially non-oil revenue”.
Governor Sule emphasized that the continuous public debt sustainability which the country has not been able to meet up with as well as the continuous increase in inflation in the country were major issues of concern at the meeting.
“Also we discussed continuous challenges facing the macro economy of various businesses in the state, especially in the area of infrastructure foreign exchange that we see and the negative impacts.
“Among other issues discussed were the rising cost of governance and the increasing inflation.
“Part of the recommendation made to improve on MTEF-FSP 2024-2026 is to improve on the government procurement process including review of the Public Procurement Act to improve efficiency and reduce corruption.” Governor Sule added.
