According to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), under the Petroleum Regulatory Agency of Nigeria stated that Nigeria has lost about $7 billion oil investment to Ghana, Benin Republic and other West Africa  sub regions,in the past 5 years due to criminal activities.

A document released by DPR says, the country also lost huge job opportunities in the process of trading in oil and gas with her neighbouring countries due to  illegitimate activities. 

The document further stated that bunkering as an illegitimate business made Nigeria lose over 70 percent of the vessels that enters Nigeria.

Bureaucracy bottlenecks among government agencies also encourages vessels to fuel in neighbouring countries where the process is seamless as against doing so in Nigeria.

Although efforts made in the past to review the policies around bunkering failed, because there was no support from the government, as a result DPR are working on a regulatory regime to make the sector more investment friendly.  

Source: Real News Magazine