LAGOS, Nigeria, April 11 (UPI) -- Nigeria lost at least $23.7 billion because of violence and sabotage in the oil-rich Niger River delta over a 9-month period last year, researchers say.
The Niger Delta Presidential Technical Committee said attacks on oil installations between January and September 2008 forced "shutdowns and spillages" that resulted in billions of dollars in lost revenues, the (Lagos) Daily Independent reported Saturday.
Committee Chairman Ledum Mitee said the figure demonstrated that "if we were to buy peace, we would be spending less than what we are losing in the crisis."
Mitee, president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, told the newspaper that in addition to revenue losses, there also are "unaccounted costs in human misery, with about 1,000 people killed within the same period and another 300 taken as hostages" in the Niger Delta.
The report estimated an average 700,000 barrels of production were lost each day from January to September 2008, which was multiplied by each month's average crude price to arrive at its dollar amounts, adding in oil theft as well, the Daily Independent reported.
