FACT-CHECK: Does Nigeria lose $50m to oil theft every week as a Facebook user claimed?

Claim: Nigeria loses $50 million to oil theft every week.
Verdict: There is no reliable data backing the claim.
Full Text:
A Facebook user claimed that Nigeria loses $50m to oil theft every week. The social media user made the claim in reaction to a fresh loan by the Nigerian government.
A screenshot of the claim on Facebook
TVN had reported that in a move to bolster its ongoing power sector reform, the federal government has requested a $50m loan from the World Bank to support state governments for the installation of solar plant pilots and infrastructure updates.
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Efforts to tackle the menace of pipeline vandalism and oil theft have been foremost before the government bodies concerned. In January 2024, the House of Representative set up a committee to probe the issue and also sought the collaboration of the military and other security agencies to tackle oil theft and vandalism which has caused a significant loss to the country’s oil sector.
Verification:
Nigeria loses a large portion of its oil to vandalism and theft, according to the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
In June 2024, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) reported that Nigeria recorded 400 cases of oil theft in one week.
Also, at the recent opening ceremony of the 2024 NEITI board retreat/meeting in Lagos, the Executive Secretary, NEITI, Ogbonnaya Orji reportedly said Nigeria lost 619.7 million barrels of oil valued at $46.16 billion over a 12-year period, adding that the country lost $1.84 billion worth of petroleum products from its refineries over nine years.
“Figures contained in our 2009 to 2020 audits have put Nigeria’s losses to crude oil theft over a 12-year period at 619.7 million barrels valued at $46.16bn or N16.25tn. Similarly, between 2009 and 2018, the country also lost 4.2 billion litres of petroleum products from refineries valued at $1.84 billion,” he said.
Conclusion:
Based on the latest data from NEITI, there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that Nigeria loses $50m to oil theft on a weekly basis.
By Quadri Yahya
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