Oil thieves have declared war on Nigeria – Lawan

ADEKUNLE ADESUJI, Abuja

President of Senate, Ahmad Lawan has said that the oil thieves have declared war on Nigeria and Federal Government should deal with them decisively.

Lawan states this in his opening remarks when President Muhammadu Buhari came to present the 2023 budget estimate  to the joint session of National Assembly .

He said, “I consider the oil thieves the worst enemies of our country. The thieves have declared war on our country and our people.

“I strongly feel that if we do not take the necessary measures to stop the thieves immediately, our economy will be devastated, as efforts to provide infrastructure and diversification of the economy would both be thwarted. It is time to take drastic and desperate measures against the thieves.

“The situation becomes more unfortunate if we factor in the budget deficit estimated at N7 trillion and the grim prospect of its increase to about N11.30 trillion as presented in the 2023 – 2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework / Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP).

“We can reduce the deficit by stopping the theft. We can also consider other options to source more revenues for government. I believe that it is imperative to review the waivers and concessions government has granted to the tune of N6 trillion”

Speaking further, Lawan asked the Federal Government to take out some government revenue agencies from national budget.

“In a difficult time like this, some of the waivers may no longer be justified. In the same vein, we should consider taking off some of the major revenue generating agencies from direct funding by placing them on cost of collection of revenues, as we did for Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service.

In this regard, agencies like Nigeria Ports Authority, (NPA), Nigeria Communications Commission, (NCC), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA), etc can be given encouraging cost of collections of revenues.

“The National Assembly Committees on Finance and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning should jointly look into this matter immediately. ”

He also asked President Buhari to make fund available to complete ongoing projects most especially, Legacy projects of this administration.

He also asked Federal Government to deal with issue of flood which  has become worrisome and called for the proper management of the nation’s dam.

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