It looks like the good times are slowing starting to roll in for Nigeria as oil production, which is the main foreign exchange earner for the country is now up with a daily production rate of 1.6 million barrels per day(mbpd).
Mele Kyari, the Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) gave this optimistic tone on Friday at NNPC headquaters in Abuja.
Kyari said in July 2022, Nigeria was producing less than 1 million barrels per day but is now optimistic of hitting the 1.8 mbpd set by OPEC.
This sustained production rise has been made possible by the new security initiatives put across by the government to stop oil theft. The initiative involved employing private security firms to work along with the nations security and military forces to stem the tide in the country’s Niger Delta.
Oil prices have also been sustainably high, consistently crossing the $80 mark for most of the year. This means the new government coming in by May 29th would have sufficient cash at hand to implement sorely needed development programs.
Nigeria is currently facing a severe shortage of foreign currency coupled with issues resulting from fuel price hikes and naira redesign. The rise in oil production could not have come at a better time for the country.
