Crude Oil: Buhari blames IPOB for Nigeria’s failure to meet OPEC daily production quota

President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed the low production of crude oil in the nation on the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group.

He stated this in a Question and Answer (Q&A) session with Bloomberg while claiming the group is behind oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had increased Nigeria’s production quota to about 1.8 million (1.799) barrels per day.

The new oil drilling limit increased Nigeria’s production deficit by an estimated 400, 000 barrels per day, since the country had only been able to produce about 1.4 million barrels daily of the 1.8 bpd ration.

Buhari said the vandalism and oil theft carried out by IPOB is responsible for the shortfall of the daily production quota in Nigeria.

He disclosed this during a question and answer session with Bloomberg, a United States, US-based publication.

The Nigerian president accused the international communities of funding the separatist group.

“Criminality and terrorism in oil-producing regions hamper production, and it would help if our western allies designated IPOB as a terrorist group, given their complicity in damage to pipelines and infrastructure.

“We urge those same international partners to take additional steps costing them nothing, by proscribing another group – IPOB – as a terrorist organization.

“Their leadership enjoys a safe haven in the West, broadcasting hate speech into Nigeria from London, spending millions lobbying members of the US Congress, and freely using international financial networks to arm agitators on the ground. This must stop,” he said.