By Odie Ramon, Yenagoa.
Former Secretary General of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Comrade Jude Gbaboyor, has petitioned the management of the Arise Television to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) over alleged false claims that Nigeria has recorded two million barrels per day in crude oil production.
According to Comrade Jude Gbaboyor, “Arise Television was fully aware that at no point did Nigeria produce 800 barrels as alleged in the broadcast, which Arise Television had the right to properly inform the Nigerian populace. They are also fully aware, based on verifiable facts and documents on NNPCL’s website, that at no point since 2022, when Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited took over the security of the crude oil pipelines till date had Nigeria produced 2,000,000 barrels of crude oil per day.”
“Arise Television, as a professional news outlet, has a responsibility to verify the information presented on its platform. These are facts that Arise Television very well know to be false and misleading and still went ahead to broadcast Sponsor Advert same in total violation to the broadcasting code.”
According to Comrade Jude Gbaboyor, despite the prayers and expectations of Nigerians that the nation record such a milestone, the claim by Arise Television during a sponsored program by Tanita Security Services Nigeria Limited was calculated to mislead the Nigerian populace and have the potential to negatively impact public understanding of the economy, distort public perception and understanding of critical issues affecting our economy and erode public trust in media reporting and media integrity.
The Former Secretary General of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Comrade Jude Gbaboyor, who is also an activist, in the petition, addressed to the Director-General of the NBC and made available to newsmen via electronic mail, noted that the Niger Delta is a crucial region in Nigeria, primarily due to its significant contributions of crude oil and gas to the nation’s economy. Consequently, accurate and responsible reporting on the economic situation surrounding the oil and gas industry is of paramount importance for informed public discourse.
“On the 28th of December 2024 at about 7:40pm, Arise Television aired a segment of a sponsored and prerecorded advert/broadcast in which Rt. Hon. EMOMOTIMI GUWOR, Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, made false statements concerning Nigeria’s crude oil and gas production and its economic implications. In the broadcast, the said Rt. Honourable Speaker alleged that “Tantita Security Services improved Nigeria’s Crude Oil production from 800 thousand barrels per day to two million barrels per day” This assertion is a blatant lie which information Arise Television knew to be false but deliberately and intentionally broadcasted to mislead the Nigerian populace, totally ignoring clauses 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4 of the NBC broadcast code.”
“I contend that these statements were not only inaccurate but also lacked necessary context, leading to public confusion and misinterpretation of the facts surrounding our nation’s economic health. It is in the public domain and particularly the official government data from NNPCL’s websites, OPEC reports, and Arise television had in recent past broadcasted with respect to the volume of crude oil production made by Nigeria on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis.”
Comrade Gbaboyor stated that “since the Group Managing Director of the NNPCL, Mr. Mele Kyari, was appointed, Nigeria’s crude oil production has continued to decline. It was so bad that under Mele Kyari’s leadership, the NNPCL 2022 failed to make remittances into the federation account for seven straight months. This has never happened throughout the history of the NNPC.”
“I call on President Tinubu, in the interest of the country and for the good of his administration, to change the leadership of the NNPCL due to its years of deceit, failures, and incompetence. The NNPCL’s leadership failures are too numerous to account for. Where do we start? Is it from the failures of the $1.5 billion Port Harcourt Refinery scandal to the $898 million Warri Refinery scandal or the Kaduna Refinery, or is it their failures for over 8 years to meet Nigeria’s OPEC quota? These NNPCL officials have been telling Nigerians the same stories for over 8 years. It is time for the President to try new hands and brains to reduce the suffering of Nigerians.”
