6 We don’t have herder crisis in Kaduna - El-Rufai
Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has said there have never been any herders’ crisis in the state. He said what has been happening are conflicts that resulted from ethnoreligious intolerance.
The governor, who made observation when he received the Editor-in-Chief and Chief
The total financial flows from Nigeria’s oil and gas sector slumped to $17.05 billion in 2016, representing a 31 per cent decline when compared to $24.79 billion in 2015, and a 75 per cent plunge on the sector’s peak earnings of $68.44 billion generated in 2011.
The figures are contained in the latest report of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) released on Friday in Abuja.
Analysis of the report showed that the $17.05 billion earned in 2016 is the lowest in ten years and the fifth lowest in the 18 years covered by NEITI’s audit reports so far (1999 to 2016).
According to the report titled “NEITI 2016 Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report”, the plunge in revenue in 2016 resulted from the double whammy of low oil prices in the global market and reduced oil production in Nigeria, which in turn was caused by disruption Executive Officer of Media Trust Ltd, Mannir Dan Ali in his office in Kaduna, said the state government has documented the various crises recorded in the state from 1980 to date and none of them can be termed herders’ crisis.
“We had ethno-religious crisis in this state from 1980, and none could be traced to herdsmen. It’s simply ethno-religious intolerance,” he said.
The governor said the crises and vandalism of oil assets and spike in crude theft, among others.
Yearly average price of crude oil per barrel was $43.73 in 2016 as against $52.5 in 2015. Total oil production in 2016 was 659 million barrels as against 776 million barrels produced in 2015, a fall of 15 per cent.
According to the report, details of which were explained by NEITI’s spokesman, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, the losses due to crude oil theft and sabotage rose from 27 million barrels in 2015 to 101 million barrels in 2016, representing an increase of 274 per cent. This was aside losses due to deferment, which in 2016 was put at 144 million barrels which also went up by 65 per cent when compared to the 87.5 million barrels in 2015.
The 2016 NEITI report covered 84 entities, comprising the following: ten government agencies, seven power generating companies, 62 oil and gas companies, three refineries, and the NLNG and NGC. experienced in the state since 1980 are being documented in order to provide facts and figures and what the government is doing to end such crises. He said the situation in Kaduna is different from what is happening in other states, hence it is wrong to classify all conflicts under one general term.
“We will bring out what is really happening in Kaduna, because each state has its own type of crisis. The issue in Zamfara is totally different from what is happening here. The one here is totally different from the one in Benue, and it’s wrong to give general headlines.”
“So, we feel what we can do as a state government is to come out with facts and figures names of those responsible in the crisis, the causes and measures the government of the past refused to take and what we are doing,” he said.
The governor further added that media reports need to be credible, informative and factual in order not to fuel further crisis and said the media should always crosscheck whatever information they have as the state government has nothing to hide.
In his remarks, Dan Ali called for more engagement with the media, saying such measures are important towards ensuring balanced reports in the media.
Nigeria’s oil, gas earnings slumped to $17.05bn in 2016, lowest in 10 years - NEITI