 There is no way of overstating the importance of a conference on protecting petroleum industry assets, and we aren't for improved economy. Oil, theft, and sabotage of oil and gas assets are a clear and present danger to our economy and our national security. Not only do they pose a serious threat to oil exploration and our energy economy, they also impact negatively on revenue accruals to the federation and the business prospects of investors in the oil and gas sector. If left unchecked, we've heard already, this will fuel a public finance crisis that will paralyze governments and leave our country extremely vulnerable to all of the shocks some known and others unexpected. Oil and gas resources account, as we've heard already, for about 80% of governments' foreign exchange revenues and contributes about 6% of the country's GDP. So large-scale theft of crude oil undermines our efforts to optimize these resources. The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NAITI, puts the audited figures of oil, theft, and losses as something in the order of about 619.7 million U.S. barrels of crude oil daily, and this is valued at over 46 billion U.S. dollars, or 16.25 trillion Naira, and all of these losses occurred between 2010 and 2020. In addition, Nigeria lost about 4.2 billion liters of petroleum products from refineries which were valued at over 1.84 billion U.S. dollars at the rate of 140,000 barrels per day from 2009 to 2018. This is just an average because there are peaks when we've seen losses in the order of 300 to 400,000 barrels in one day. So the total value of crude oil losses between 2009 and 2020 is higher than the size of Nigeria's foreign reserves at any point in time, and almost 10 times Nigeria's oil savings in our excess crude account. So there is no exaggeration at all to say that our oil and gas sector is facing perhaps the most serious threat, the most serious as it has confronted in its over half a century of its existence. The theft of crude oil and the accompanying attacks on our energy infrastructure, especially in the Niger Delta, have since the inception of our administration being of utmost concern. Within a year of the Buhari administration's being in office, our oil installations were sabotaged by militants, especially the Fokardo's export pipeline and the extraverse gas pipeline. The effect was such that annual average crude oil production fell from its 1.7.48 million barrels per day in 2015 to about 1.4 to 7 million barrels per day in 2016. And at some stage, at the peak of the attacks, were producing less than 1 million barrels per day, sometimes falling to about between 700 to 800,000 barrels in one day. To compound the situation, this loss of production came at a time of very low oil prices. By January 2016, Brent crude was trading at about $30 per barrel, as opposed to its average price of about $52 per barrel in 2015. So given the importance of oil and gas for federation revenues and export earnings, there was no surprise that the economy went into recession in 2016 for the first time in 20 years, with the economy contracting by about 1.6 percent that year. It was clear to the government at the time that to speedily exit the recession, we needed to ensure that oil production went back to its over 2 million barrels per day levels. So in the wake of the sabotage of our key oil installations, the President and I had a very long, as a matter of fact, a series of discussions on what to do. We finally agreed that it was important that I undertook a tour of all the oil producing states, especially in the Niger Delta, to engage with stakeholders and get a measure of a sense of the grievances that formed the backdrop to the sabotage of oil installations. So this was not just to be a visit to state capitals, but it entailed visiting key oil installations, key oil producing communities, and talking to all segments, especially traditional rulers and community leaders in many of the oil producing communities. As a result of these engagements, and based on the feedback that we had received from the communities, we were able to draw up the new vision for the Niger Delta, which helped to calm the situation and stem the attacks on oil facilities. These efforts led to significant success, and according to the 2018 Nigeria oil and gas industry annual report, crude oil production, the estimated daily average production for the year, was 2.12 million barrels per day. This upward review, of course, was upended very soon after the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. So just by being able to go to these communities and speak to the various communities, and address some of their concerns, and especially involving the communities in the process of addressing these concerns, we were able to stem the tide of attacks on oil installations and facilities, and we were able to raise oil production significantly, as referred. So it's against the backdrop of huge production cuts and revenue losses that the National Economic Council, which I chair, set up an NATO committee in 2019 under the chairmanship of the governor of Edo State, his Excellency Governor Gordwin Obaseki, to ascertain the magnitude of oil thefts and losses in Nigeria, and recommend appropriate remedial measures. I think it's important to understand that immediately after the successes that were experienced in 2018, and addressing some of the concerns of the oil-producing communities, we began to experience again, shortly thereafter, especially in 2019, and subsequently, increasing losses, thefts, and of course, some of what you have heard, the very detailed presentation by Mr. Balaunti a moment ago. So most of the recommendations of the NATO committee informed the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, and you would find that many of the concerns that have been expressed by communities over the years were actually made provisions in the PIA. But even so, acts of vandalism, of oil and gas infrastructure, oil theft, as well as low production yields, are still being reported in damaging and unacceptable proportions. The current administration, of course, is confronting these acts of economic terrorism on multiple fronts, and with a range of tools, and we've heard a lot of this already. But first, we have invested significantly in scaling up maritime security architecture. In June 2021, President Buhari flagged off the integrated national security and waterways protection infrastructure. That project is known as the Deep Blue Project. It's a collaborative multi-agency effort involving the armed forces the police, the Department of State Services, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, and jointly led by the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Defense. The project provides air, naval, and land assets for surveillance, for policing, and search and rescue operations in our coastal waters and our exclusive economic zones. Now the following month, I was at the Navy headquarters where we commissioned the Falcon Eye, a maritime surveillance facility, which by itself is a collection of sensors, and this collection of sensors were used to monitor maritime assets in most of the coastal areas in Nigeria. So this helped us in the preemptive interdiction of criminals. Taking together these two initiatives are huge investments in making our water safe for energy commerce and making it inhospitable for criminals that violate our vital economic interests. So we already have two major projects, and as I pointed out, the Falcon Eye being the latest, these projects of course are meant to assist in surveillance of our coastal waters and to be able to precisely pinpoint some of the criminal activities that are going on, especially in the Delta and several of our coastal waters. Having said this, we also recognize that scaling up our maritime security architecture is only one piece of the puzzle. The material conditions of the Niger Delta have been unfortunately conducive for the activities of criminal syndicates who prey on our energy infrastructure in that area. The ad hoc committee set up by the National Economic Council acknowledged this by recommending that the governors of the oil producing states should step up actions to develop their communities with a 13% derivation allocation accruing to them. And this is an important point. We felt the need to emphasize that governors of the states must use derivation funds to improve the circumstances of their people. And that's absolutely important because while the federal government must make the efforts that it is making, it's also important at the local level that governments expend the derivation funds on community development, which is really what the derivation funds are meant for. The committee also determined that creating employment opportunities for young people in the oil producing communities and making petroleum products available in these communities is also an important feature because we felt that this will go a long way to reduce hardship and criminality in the region. In this regard, one of the ideas that we pursued under the new vision for the Niger Delta was the discouragement of illegal artisanal refining by licensing modular refineries. And this was a feedback that we gathered from talking to the local communities. Many of the local communities were saying that, look, you keep attacking artisanal refineries where we make an income. Why don't you involve us in the building of modular refineries? And at some point, federal government licensed almost 38 modular refineries. And the refineries were designed to be privately owned, but with a small percentage of shares owned by the host communities. And it was hoped that this could draw in the illegal refiners and shut down one of the most potent sources of sabotage of oil assets, especially the destruction of oil pipelines. And I think that this move to a certain extent was successful. But one thing that we must really understand is that artisanal refining is extremely lucrative for those who engage in it, for the young men and women who engage in it. And because it is so lucrative, and because the oil is obtained at no cost whatsoever, it's extremely difficult to stop it, even by the replacement of it by modular refineries and by other such efforts, where the oil is obtained at no cost, obviously there is no contention when you compare it with what government is offering. We recognize that addressing the situation in the region calls for concerned transformative effort across all tiers of government. And in this respect, President Buhari enacted the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021 as a centerpiece of legislation aimed at revitalizing the oil and gas industry. Among other things, the Act stipulates elaborate provisions to accommodate the needs of the host communities in the oil and gas producing areas. The aim of these provisions is to assuage their sensibilities and give them a sense of belonging and foster unity or purpose with oil companies for the mutual benefit of all. The Act also aims to foster sustainable prosperity within the host communities by providing them with direct social and economic benefits. In addition, oil companies operating on behalf of joint venture partners, the JVPs, are required to contribute between 3% to 5% for upstream companies and 2% for other companies of their actual operating expenditure in the immediately preceding calendar year to the host community development trust fund. This fund has tax exam status and this is in addition to the existing contribution of 3% to the Niger Delta Development Commission, the NDDC, with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act. The host communities tend to gain immensely from the sustained production. This is why the communities should work in unison with other stakeholders to ensure increased production and yields and the security of oil and gas infrastructure for mutually-derivable benefits. Conversely, where disruptions of production and oil theft and losses occur, such communities and states inevitably stand to lose immensely given that the benefits of the host communities is based on the Advolerant Principle. So it's important, of course, in order to gain the benefits of the legislation, in order to gain all of the benefits contained in the legislation, of course, the host communities themselves must ensure continued production and must assist the government as well as all the agencies involved in stemming oil and gas thefts and losses. And I think this is important because once the host communities, especially the individuals who may be involved in these actions, are sensitized as to the importance of ensuring that the act works, the insurance of ensuring that legislation works to their benefit, then I think that things may well improve. And this would involve actual engagement. Sometimes it's important to go and speak to people. Sometimes it's important to actually engage, sit down with these local communities and talk to them. I recall that when we had the conversations with the local communities, of course, there was a lot of suspicion back and forth. The local communities, of course, were suspicious of government. And government, of course, itself was fearful that something may go wrong. There were those who suggested at the time that, oh, all the local communities needed and the leaders needed was for us to carry a large sums of money to them. But we did not accept this. And the president did not accept this proposition. So when I went to visit those local communities, instead of taking money to them, in fact, the big surprise was that when we got to those local communities, we got money instead. In Baramatu, when I visited Baramatu, I was actually given 250,000 Nair as a gift by the local community. In addition to that, I was given a wife to take home with me. Of course, I had to point out to His Royal Highness that that might cause a bit of problem. For me, when I arrived with a young lady, my wife is not exactly, my wife was not exactly the sort of person who I would accept that kind of proposition. But let me just say that engaging the communities is very important. And we must never think that engagement is enough. Constant and continuous engagement is very crucial. And it's engaging at the level of actually, face-to-face and talking to people. There's nothing that trumps that. There's nothing better than that. So that we're able to better understand what exactly is going on and prefer solutions jointly. So without preempting the presentations to be made by the distinguished resource persons on matters of concern, let me comment on some of the contentious issues associated with all theft and losses in Nigeria. It is public knowledge, of course, that Trandestine syndicates perpetrate these economic crimes using various strategies. And there are reports of oil tankers that illegally load crude without due authorization of the appropriate regulatory authorities we've seen from the earlier presentation some vessels that were in fact destroyed. At the same time, it has been argued that organized crime of such an industrial scale cannot be carried out without the compromise and complicity of critical institutions. This assertion continues to be contested by the relevant authorities, but remains a topical issue, an issue of concern. In addition, there are allegations of malpractices at the loading terminals, resulting in under declaration of quality of crude loaded. There are also issues of conflicting figures being presented as losses. Some sources attribute the losses to other issues not necessarily related to theft. These include shortings, false majeure, defamined, abandoned oil well heads, non-production and metering errors, and many other factors. These issues have been countered. These issues have been countered by some authorities as frivolous, as frivolous excuses for untenable revenue losses. But regardless of what the core problems are, we can all agree that the persistence of crimes of this magnitude severely challenge the credibility of governing authorities. It is an affront to our claims of sovereignty. It is an affront to our claims of sovereignty that an industry so crucial to our collective well-being is under such brazing assault by criminal elements. So grievous a crime cannot simply be a subject of symmetry, a subject of discussion. People must do their jobs. And if they are unable to do them, then there must be an accounting for such failures. And we must hold people to account. We must hold authorities to account for what is going on. Institutional and personal reputations are at stake. This, therefore, is the cardinal reason I believe where we are gathered here today. I implore you to exhaust discussions on these issues. And I believe that with the profile of resource persons, high-level moderators and discussants, I'm confident that the subject matter will be discussed extensively and appropriate recommendations will be preferred to achieve the overarching objective of this conference. So I urge you to think out of the box and be courageously innovative in preferring your recommendations. I must commend the Dynamic National Security Advisor, Major General Baba Ganamungunu CFR and the very able chair of the Special Investigative Panel on Orphans and Losses, Major General Barry T. Indyomu, and his colleagues on the panel for organizing this conference. While it is coming at the twilight of this administration, the president is committed to captaining the ship of governance to the very last hour. But more importantly, our administration is committed to leaving our best actions, our best thoughts and ideas for the use of the next administration and for the benefit of our nation. Ladies and gentlemen, it is now my very special pleasure and privilege to declare open this conference. Thank you very much.