By Adedapo Adesanya
The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has tasked the Nigerian government to use available technology to tackle the scourge of oil theft affecting the country.
She made the charge during her speech at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos on Sunday.
The event was themed Pressing Forward; A National Posture to Rebuilding Nigeria, and featured personalities from Nigeria, including the Vice President, Mr Kashim Shettima; the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun; the Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio; and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Tajudeen Abbas, among others.
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, said there were enough technological innovations to track crude oil theft and bring those behind the act to justice in Nigeria.
Nigeria faces a tough challenge with its oil as issues like underinvestment and theft, which have made it difficult to generate needed revenue for the country.
In her keynote address titled A Social Contract For Nigeria’s Future she said those responsible for stopping the “intolerable” action of crude oil theft no longer have excuses, as technology could help solve this problem.
“A second aspect of security relates to the security of national assets. Nigerians have seen for years how organised crude oil theft on a massive scale seriously undermines the economic and financial health of the country.
“All Nigerians must agree that stealing of our national assets of any type is intolerable and must be stopped,” she quipped.
She said oil theft has hampered the strengthening of the foreign reserves.
“There is so much technology available now to track such theft and there must be no more excuses for inaction.”
The WTO DG also advocated policy consistency in Nigeria regardless of change from one administration to another.
“Maintaining good economic and social policies; maintaining policy consistency and adding more reforms on top of that will lead us along the path of good progress that we all desire,” she noted.
She explained that maintaining policy consistency and adding more reforms on top of that will be along the path of good governance that will benefit Nigeria.