The National Economic Council has expanded the mandate of its Ad-hoc Committee on Crude Oil Theft Prevention and Control to cover illegal mining.
This is just as the council raised the alarm that the nation’s solid minerals, including gold, are being mined and stolen.
Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, who chairs the committee, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents after the 153rd NEC meeting chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday.
Uzodimma said the expanded mandate is part of the government’s efforts to curb resource theft and increase revenue from Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.
The National Economic Council Ad-hoc Committee on Crude Oil Theft Prevention and Control, which I chair, presented an interim report today to the Council.
“NEC received our report with satisfaction and expanded our Terms of Reference to now also take interest in solid minerals, because our solid minerals are being mined and stolen and not adding to national revenue,” said Uzodma.
He noted that the expanded role would enable the committee to coordinate with the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development and other federal and subnational institutions to combat widespread illegal gold mining and other forms of mineral smuggling that have deprived the country of much-needed foreign exchange.
“Going forward, our committee, working with other government agencies, will look at how to ensure that the revenue of the country arising from solid minerals like gold and other forms of solid minerals are not allowed to be stolen,” the governor added.
NEC’s Ad-hoc Committee on Crude Oil Theft Prevention and Control was first established under former President Muhammadu Buhari in August 2022.
It was reconstituted under President Bola Tinubu in December 2023 with Uzodinma as chairman.
The committee was initially mandated to address the challenge of crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
Its creation followed rising oil theft that had crippled national production and forced international oil companies to shut down key pipelines.
At the time, oil production had crashed to around 700,000–800,000 barrels per day, far below Nigeria’s OPEC quota, costing the government billions of dollars in lost export revenue.
Uzodimma explained that through what he called a “collaborative approach” involving regulators, operators, and the security forces, the committee had helped raise daily crude oil production to over 1.7 million barrels per day in the past 22 months.
