There is palpable fear among Nigerians, that the Federal Government might not be able to pay workers’ salaries in the coming months, following the consistent decline in the nation’s revenue.
It could be recalled, that since the drop in oil price at the International market from over $100 dollars, to bellow $30 per barrel, the Federal Government has been struggling to meet its financial obligations, as it has resulted to borrowing, to fund recurrent expenditure, with the nation’s huge debt profile growing on a monthly basis.
With the situation presently out of hand, and as the nation has fully entered into recession, with inflation going up on a monthly basis, there are strong insinuations that the Federal Government might totally go bankrupt in the coming months.
According to statistics, the drop in Nigeria’s crude oil revenue in the first quarter of 2016, is put at N53.72 billion, which is higher than the total amount the nation lost in the whole of 2015 (N51.3 billion).
Nigeria’s crude oil export decreased by 7.81 million barrels, between January and March 2016, down from 132.48 million barrels recorded in the preceding quarter to 124.67 million barrels. This is according to the latest report from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
Statistic from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, revealed that the average price of crude oil in the first quarter of 2016, was $34.39 per barrel, while the value of the local currency was estimated at N200 to a dollar, during the period.
By implication, this puts the total crude oil revenue shortfall in the first quarter of year, at $268.58 million, representing N53.72 billion.
The Group Managing Director, GMD, of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, had on Thursday, said that pipeline losses of over 643 million recorded, and valued at over N51.28 billion, were incurred in 2015.
This therefore, means that the oil revenue losses recorded in the first three months of 2016, was N2.4 billion, higher than what the country recorded as PMS losses in the whole of last year.
The NNPC GMD, while explaining the economic effects of the continued attack on oil installations in Nigeria said, “The 2016 national budget plan, was based on 2.2 million barrels per day of crude oil production.
“However, the budget plan is now grossly impacted, due to renewed militancy, with about 700,000 bpd of oil production curtailed, due to pipeline vandalism.“Along with this menace, is the incessant case of kidnapping of personnel and piracy in areas of operations.“Other effects of these despicable acts include; loss of lives, high cost of operations, refinery shutdown, fuel crisis, and large scale environmental degradation and attendant cost of oil spill clean-ups,” the GMD said.
It could be recalled, that the CBN Governor, in an exclusive session with the Senate last week, had hinted that the nation might not be able pay federal workers’ salaries, if the crisis persists in the coming months.
Already, many States of the federation have totally gone bankrupt, as they are owing salaries ranging from 1 to 6 months.
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