The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the economy, Wale Edun has revealed that oil production has increased to 1.65 million barrels per day (bpd), from 1.25 million bpd in June 2023.
The Minister made this revelation in Abuja at a podcast hosted by Bruit Costaud in collaboration with Ballard Partners of USA.
The Minister noted that with the increase in production, more forex will flow into the country. Wale Edun also added that crude oil is one source of bringing in dollars without causing inflation.
“The prices are still elevated and as you know in June 2023, the oil production and sales were roughly 1.25 million barrels per day,” he said.
“Now, it is up to 1.65 million barrels per day, that is one source of bringing in dollars and revenue into the government coffers that is non-inflationary.”
Edun went further to add that an increase in oil revenue means a brighter revenue outlook for Nigeria, which would lead to increased fund availability for the provision of critical infrastructure.
“This is quickest way of giving the government the needed revenue to address our urgent needs,” he said.
The minister of finance also added that earnings from the non-oil sector and revenue from taxation are equally vital to the government.
“If you know about Mr President’s antecedent, the first thing he did in Lagos as governor was to get hold of the revenue,” Edun said.
“What he did was to deploy digitisation. He used the latest technology to block the leakages and to improve the efficiency of monitoring and collection. This is exactly the same thing we are doing at the federal level now”, Edun pointed out.
“The revenue of the federal government has been totally revamped.”
He said technology has been applied to ensure what is due to the federal government, particularly from its various revenue-earning arms, agencies, companies, and enterprises is not taken.