The Senate has received an interim report from its ad hoc committee investigating crude oil theft in the Niger Delta, revealing that Nigeria may have lost more than $300 billion in unaccounted crude oil proceeds over the years.
The report, presented on Wednesday by the committee’s chairman, Senator Ned Nwoko (Delta North), attributed the massive losses to entrenched corruption, poor regulatory oversight, and widespread sabotage across the oil sector.
The committee, established earlier in 2025, was tasked with probing crude oil theft, illegal bunkering, illicit export operations, and alleged compromises within Nigeria’s petroleum and security agencies — a crisis that has long crippled the nation’s oil output and revenue generation.
Presenting the interim findings before the Senate, Nwoko said the investigation uncovered “systemic irregularities, poor measurement standards, and weak enforcement mechanisms” throughout the petroleum value chain.
“The ad hoc committee should be given the mandate to track, trace, and recover all proceeds of stolen crude oil transactions, both locally and internationally,” Nwoko stated. “Forensic review by the consultants shows over $22 billion, $81 billion, and $200 billion remain unaccounted for.”
He further explained that the figures stemmed from multiple years of unrecorded exports, diversion of proceeds, and discrepancies between declared and actual production figures.
The committee’s preliminary report — spanning about 40 pages — outlines a series of reform proposals and urgent steps to address the crisis. Among the key recommendations is that the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) should immediately enforce internationally recognised crude oil measurement and reporting standards at all production and export terminals.
Senator Nwoko also emphasised the need for closer inter-agency coordination, stronger forensic auditing processes, and stiffer penalties for those found complicit in the theft and illegal sale of Nigeria’s crude oil.
Crude oil theft has remained one of Nigeria’s most persistent economic challenges, depriving the country of vital foreign exchange earnings and undermining its ability to meet OPEC production quotas. Industry experts have repeatedly warned that the illicit trade — often involving powerful syndicates and security operatives — continues to drain billions from the national treasury annually.
The Senate is expected to consider the committee’s recommendations and debate the adoption of further measures once the final report is submitted in the coming weeks.
