The Federal Government lost an estimated 13.5 million barrels of crude oil, valued at $3.3 billion, to oil theft and pipeline vandalism between 2023 and 2024.
This was revealed by the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr Ogbonnaya Orji, during the 2025 Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria (NAEC) Conference held in Lagos on Thursday.
Speaking on the theme “Nigeria’s Energy Future: Exploring Opportunities and Addressing Risks for Sustainable Growth,” Orji explained that the stolen oil revenue could have funded an entire year of the federal health budget or provided electricity access to millions of households.
“These losses are more than economic setbacks—they reflect broken trust, institutional weaknesses, and lost opportunities for national growth,” he said. “This is why transparency and accountability are not optional; they are essential.”
Orji stressed that Nigeria’s energy future depends not on the size of its reserves or production output, but on how transparently and responsibly the country manages its natural resource wealth—revenues, contracts, and decisions that shape its future.
He declared that the era of secrecy in resource governance must end, especially as the global energy transition towards cleaner fuels and renewable energy demands greater openness and responsibility.
“At NEITI, our philosophy is clear: data builds trust, and trust drives investment,” Orji said. “Transparency is not a bureaucratic formality—it is an economic necessity that attracts capital, technology, and partnerships.”
He revealed that NEITI’s 2021–2022 Oil and Gas Industry Reports showed that Nigeria earned $23.04 billion in 2021 and $23.05 billion in 2022 from the sector. However, ₦1.5 trillion in outstanding remittances owed to the Federation by some companies and agencies remains unrecovered—funds that could significantly improve infrastructure, education, and healthcare.
Orji noted that NEITI has transformed from an audit agency into a governance reform body, conducting regular audits of the oil, gas, and solid mineral sectors. It also manages the Beneficial Ownership Register, which identifies over 4,800 real asset owners to help fight corruption and illicit financial flows.
Additionally, NEITI launched a national open-data centre to provide real-time access to industry information and strengthened collaborations with the NUPRC, NMDPRA, and NCDMB to promote transparency in licensing, metering, and host community trust management.
He added that NEITI has introduced a Just Energy Transition and Climate Accountability Framework to ensure that Nigeria’s move towards cleaner energy is transparent, inclusive, and equitable.
“These are not ceremonial achievements but concrete reforms aimed at embedding transparency into the core of Nigeria’s extractive industry,” Orji said.
He urged the government to embrace innovation as Nigeria advances gas as its transition fuel and renewable energy as its long-term goal.
“Our energy future must be built on verifiable data, open contracts, measurable emissions, and accountable institutions. NEITI envisions an extractive sector where every dollar is traceable, every contract is public, and every citizen can see how our resources translate into national prosperity,” he concluded.