THE administration of President Muhammadu Buhari earned N16.647 trillion from the oil and gas industry in its first tenure, from May 2015 to April 2019.

According to data obtained from various reports of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the country’s earnings from the petroleum industry was from crude oil and gas sales, royalties, Petroleum Profit Tax, PPT, and other sources.

The money was earned by Nigeria only and does not include earnings by oil and gas companies operating in the country. The total oil revenue represented the amount that was later shared to the Federal, State and Local Governments after the inclusion of non-oil revenue, as well as after other deductions and transfers.

However, from the reports, it was observed that the amount earned by Buhari in the first four years of his administration was 43.6 per cent lower than the N29.514 trillion earned by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan from May 2011 to April 2015.

Giving a breakdown of oil revenue recorded during the Buhari administration, the CBN reports stated that from May 2015 to December 2015, oil revenue stood at N2.3 trillion; in 2016, 2017 and 2018, earnings from the industry stood at N2.693 trillion, N4.109 trillion and N5.63 trillion respectively, while from January to April 2019, the country earned N1.882 trillion.

On the other hand, the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan earned N29.59 trillion from the petroleum industry, broken down into N6.321 trillion from May 2011 to December 2011; N8.094 trillion, N6.809 trillion and N6.793 trillion in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively, while from January to April 2015, the administration recorded oil revenue of N1.497 trillion.

The amount earned by the Buhari administration in its first tenure represented 61.42 per cent of the country’s budgets for 2015 to 2018. Specifically, between 2015 and 2018, the Federal Government’s total budgets stood at N27.1 trillion.

In 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, the Federal Government’s budget estimates were N4.5 trillion, N6.06 trillion, N7.44 trillion and N9.1 trillion respectively.

Commenting on earnings from the petroleum industry during the Buhari administration, the immediate past president of the Nigerian Association for Petroleum Economists, NAPE Professor Omowumi Iledare, argued that the money was better utilized.

Source:- Vanguardngr