DAILY POST findings have proved Nigeria President, Mumammadu Buhari’s stand on oil revenue wrong.
At the peak of a meeting with a delegation of his support group on Tuesday, President Buhari had raised concerns about the utilisation of Nigeria’s oil revenue between 1999 and 2015.
Speaking during the occasion, he claimed that oil price averaged $100 per barrel under the previous administrations.
“I challenge anybody to check from Europe, America and Asia; between 1999-2014, Nigeria was producing 2.1 million barrels of crude oil per day at an average cost of $100 per barrel and it went up to $143.
“When we came it collapsed to $37 – 38 and later was oscillating between $40 and $50,” Buhari said.
This happens not to be the first time President Buhari has made this claim in public.
Read Also:
DAILY POST recalls that in his 2017 Independence Day speech, Buhari said: “we should remind ourselves of the recent journey from 1999-2015 when our country happily returned to democratic rule. However, in spite of oil prices being an average of $100 per barrel and about 2.1 million barrels a day, that great piece of luck was squandered and the country’s social and physical infrastructure neglected.”
Taking up the challenge by Buhari, DAILY POST checked out oil prices from 1999 till date.
A look at the Basket Price of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) where the weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly averages of oil prices based on daily quotations are published indicates that President Buhari’s oil price data are not accurate.
According to data obtainable from OPEC’s Basket Price, the average crude oil price from 1999 to 2015 was $61 a barrel.
As far as records of crude oil price has been kept throughout history, it never reached above $100, except in 2011 ($107), 2012 ($109.45) and 2013 ($105.87).
The highest price ever paid for crude oil was during late President Musa YarAdua’s tenure.
Between June and July 2008, a barrel of crude oil was sold around $130 to $147, although the average crude oil price in 2008 ended up being $94.45 per barrel.
Even at that, oil price dropped as low as $33.87 by December 19, 2008, and rose to $51.55 by April 24, 2009.
In 1999 when the military handed over power to Olusegun Obasanjo, the average crude oil price was $16.56 per barrel.
In 2003 when he was re-elected for a second term, average crude oil price rose to $28.05 per barrel and $69.08 per barrel in 2007. The average crude oil price during Obasanjo’s tenure from 1999 to 2007 was $37.18
Oil price when President Buhari took over government in May 2015 was $62.51
