Prince Justice J. Faloye, the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, has raised questions about Nigeria’s oil revenue losses under different administrations, as reported by Daily Independent on Saturday, 16 August, 2025.
He recalled that during President Muhammadu Buhari’s time in office, the former leader refused to implement subsidy removal and currency devaluation as demanded by the IMF and World Bank.
Buhari reportedly said he could not impose such hardship on Nigerians.
Faloye said soon after that refusal, Nigeria began to lose about one million barrels of oil every day.
He explained that this figure was close to half of the country’s foreign revenue.
He argued that it was impossible for such a huge quantity of oil to vanish daily without being noticed.
He questioned how so many tankers and refineries could process the missing barrels without any global trace.
The Afenifere spokesman then compared the situation with President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
He said when Tinubu adopted the IMF and World Bank economic reforms, which included subsidy removal and devaluation, the mysterious oil theft suddenly reduced.
Faloye described this as “government magic.”
He suggested that the sudden end to large-scale theft showed there were hidden powers controlling Nigeria’s oil sector.
According to him, the quick turnaround raised suspicions that the theft might have been linked to political or external pressure.
He warned that Nigerians must pay attention to such unexplained events.
He said it was wrong for economic policies to be tied to invisible forces while ordinary citizens continue to suffer.
“President Buhari was asked why he didn’t follow the IMF subsidy removal and devaluation prescriptions, and he responded, ‘I can’t do it to my people’. His refusal was suspiciously followed by the loss of 1 million barrels of oil revenue, which is about half our foreign revenue. There are not many oil tankers and refineries in the world for a whole million barrels to go missing everyday without a trace. Surprisingly, when President Tinubu decided to follow the Western IMF World Bank economic reforms, oil theft drastically fell. Government Magic,” he said.
