The Federal Government has blamed the menace of crude oil theft for being responsible for the worsening unemployment situation in the country. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, said this while declaring open the 8th Meeting of the National Employment Council on Friday in Abuja.
Dr. Ngige, who is the chairman of the council, disclosed that oil theft has made the nation to become a mendicant nation, resorting to begging for survival.
The minister stressed that this threat has affected efforts deployed by the federal government towards creating jobs for the country’s teeming youthful population.
He said we are at a critical stage in our country’s life. There are economic challenges all over the world, but Nigeria’s problem is self inflicted. The nation’s main source of revenue is oil.
However, in the oil sector, two things are happening. One, Nigeria is not meeting her production quota. Our OPEC production quota used to be 2.2 million barrels per day. It slipped down to 1.8 million barrels.
He said now, we cannot even produce the 1.8 million barrels. We are hovering around 1.1 million barrels per day, and they told us that some people are stealing our crude oil.
Lastly, Dr, Ngige said the prevailing situation is a very serious one because it has made us become very mendicant. We are now resorting to begging for survival.
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