11/05/2016
RENEWED MILITANT ATTACKS AS IT AFFECTS 2016, NATIONAL BUDGETS
Following the blowing up of the Chevron valve platform in Abiteye, in Warri north council area of delta state, Royal Dutch Shell has began the evacuation of staff from its production faciility, Eja OML 79, oil production output in Nigeria, has dropped and the 2016 national budget recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, may have started suffering a major cash flow set back from oil revenue.
The federal Government had pegged the budget revenue on crude oil production at 2.2 million barrel per day, but with the violent activities of the Niger Delta Avengers on oil installations in the oil rich region, there are clear indications by oil market report that output would drop to 1.6 mbpd against the 2.2mbpd as projected in the budget.
Furthermore, with this development and the receding of the international oil price to $41 per barrel, the FG could be losing $8m per day, and a revenue loss of about $22.8 million per day, totaling, $7.16 billion or N1.4 trillion of revenue short fall thereby wiping out about 80% of the N1.8trillion earmarked as capital expenditure in the budget, a situation that renders the reflationary thrust of the budget ineffective from the start as reported by today's Vanguard newspaper.
We would recall that in a move to forstall a roburst economy, the president, had went ahead last weekend while signing the budget disclosed that, "we are working night and day to diversify the economy so that we never again have to rely on one commodity to survive as a country."
Also in an earlier statement immediately after the militants struck, the President, had directed different security agencies to fashion out tactics capable of overpowering the niger delta avengers which claimed responsibility for the recent bombing of oil and gas installations in Warri, Delta state.
That's the current challenge facing the oil industry, the smooth ex*****on of the budget even as it affects the economy and nigerians in general. We hope that things get better as the FG and the militants come to terms else the old African proverb which says that, "when two elephant fights the grass suffers" will come to pass in the lives of nigerians.