The federal government says theft of Nigeria’s crude oil has gravely affected earnings, forcing the Muhammadu Buhari regime to resort to borrowing.

Labour and employment minister Chris Ngige said at the 8th meeting of the National Employment Council on Friday in Abuja.

Crude is Nigeria’s top earner but the country is not meeting her OPEC production quota, slipping from 2.2 million barrels per day down to 1.8 million barrels.

“Now, we cannot even produce the 1.8 million barrels. We are hovering around 1.1 million barrels per day, and they told us that some people are stealing our crude oil,” Mr Ngige was quoted as saying by labour ministry’s spokesman Olajide Oshundun.

“This is a very serious matter because it has made us become very mendicant. We are now a mendicant nation, resorting to begging for survival,” the minister said.

Mr Ngige asserted that the menace has hampered the efforts of the federal government towards creating jobs for the country’s teeming youthful population.

He added that the nation cannot continue that way because it has hampered efforts to create jobs for our teeming youthful population.

(NAN)