jeff juwana
Moderator
The conference was organized by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria with the theme, ‘Upholding professionalism in the financial services industry: Supporting the economy.'
As at Tuesday, crude oil price in the international market sold at $113 per barrel, and going by the figures quoted by the President, the country would be losing between $6.78m (N1.08bn) and $9.04m (N1.45bn) daily.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the economy grew at a slower rate in the second quarter of the year as compared to last year due to oil theft and pipeline shutdown.
The minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, who represented the President, said that the oil sector has led to serious shocks to the economy.
Jonathan said, "The oil sector has brought nothing to this country than shocks. Even some new shocks that we never thought could be shocks, things like oil bunkering and oil theft. These are shocks because once they happen, they shut down the entire system.
"Most of the figures you see don’t even represent the theft. They say 400,000 barrels per day, but that does not represent what is being stolen in this country.
"What is stolen is between 60,000 and 80,000 barrels per day. But once they start stealing from your pipelines, do you allow them to continue? No, you shut them down and once you shut down, the entire production stops; so that is also a loss.
"So, when you see the entire loss, it is mainly because of the shutdowns and not because of the theft. The theft is little, but even that theft, since it is bringing another shutdown, is also a problem."
In an effort to ameliorate the impact of the shocks in the oil sector, the President urged the banking sector to increase its funding to other sectors such as agriculture, mining, manufacturing among others.
Jonathan said, "The financial sector can develop the real sector faster than the real sector can develop the financial sector, and that’s why the government is worried when the financial sector is not supporting the real sector the way it should.
"It is good to see that the central bank is intervening in some of these sectors but we need to see banks taking up the challenge; the central bank should regulate, while the banks lend."
"Agriculture in Nigeria accounts for about 40 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product and if we really want to grow the economy, there is no way we can avoid lending to that sector," he added.
In a similar trend, the President and Chairman of Council, CIBN, Mr. Segun Aina, had said the uncertainty in the oil and gas sector globally was a wakeup call for the diversification of the Nigerian economy.