Sustainable Host Community Development – An Enabler for Energy security & Economic development in Nigeria

Till date, Nigeria is heavily dependent on revenue generated from oil and gas to finance its annual budget to provide public goods and services beneficial to its citizenry. The 2022 budget reflects that 31% of Federal government earnings will be result from oil and gas. Despite the push to diversify her economy, the stark reality remains that oil and gas sales is an influential factor to enabling economic development in Nigeria. More so, countries such as Saudi Arabia and Norway have utilized oil and gas wealth as the basis to invest in other sectors and promote diversification. However, Nigeria's goal of Energy security and economic development is likely not to be achieved as she battles with crude theft plaguing her ability to evacuate crude to her customers. Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) reported a loss of 470,000 bpd of crude amounting to an estimated 0.4 trillion naira monthly due to oil theft. The annualized estimate of 5.2 trillion-naira loss represents a staggering 30% of Nigeria's 2022 budget expenditure of 16 trillion naira. With other associated impacts to Nigeria, there is an imperative to deal and ultimately put an end to this looming menace. This study focused on addressing the crude oil theft through sustainable Host community engagement and development. A review of the factors promoting crude oil theft in Nigeria was performed. The study analyzed the production loss data over a decade and positively correlated it with economic development indicators such as poverty index, inflation, per capita income. The impact on the host community was studied. The results showed that the disenchantment of host communities (despite being key stakeholders in the oil and gas value chain) necessitated their little to no responsibility for protecting oil & gas assets and preventing the perpetration of crude oil theft. The study developed and proposed a "Host community development plan" which if administered with provisions already existing in the Petroleum Industry Act could revolutionize the Oil & gas industry by promoting increased ownership & fostering collaboration towards achieving Energy security & Economic development in Nigeria.