Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has lamented that Nigeria has resorted to begging for survival due to crude oil theft.
The minister also hinted that stealing the country’s main source of revenue was worsening the spate of unemployment in the country.
The minister made the disclosure in Abuja at the 8th meeting of the National Employment Council.
According to a statement yesterday by the ministry’s head, press and public relations, Olajide Oshundun, the minister noted that the menace of crude oil theft has hampered the efforts of the federal government towards creating jobs for the country’s teeming youth.
He said, “I am aware that you people know that we are at a very critical stage in our nation’s life. We have economic problems all over the world, but our own in Nigeria is self-inflicted. Our main source of revenue is oil.
“But 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. 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.
“This is a very serious matter because it has made us become very mendicant. We cannot continue that way because it has hampered our efforts to create jobs for our teeming youthful population.”
To reverse the ugly trend, Ngige called for collaboration between the National Employment Council and the National Skills Council, domiciled in the Ministry of Labour and Employment Council and the Ministry of Education, not leaving out the ministries of Industries and Trade; Works, Power, Science and Technology, and all other government creations, to act with a sense of urgency.
