Nigeria Loses 30% of its 2008 Revenue to Niger Delta Crisis

Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua has said that the federal government lost 30 per cent of the revenue it had planned for the 2008 budget because of the crisis in the Niger Delta. Speaking at a conference in Abuja, the President noted the intensity of the losses, saying they had diminished federal revenues despite the current global increase in oil prices. Militant groups in the Niger Delta overran oil installations belonging to Shell and Chevron Nig in two separate attacks last June, decreasing Nigeria’s oil production by over 300, 000 barrels a day .[PE]