PRNigeria Fact‑Check Contradicts Tony Elumelu’s 97% Oil Theft Assertion on Pre‑Tinubu Era
A viral social media graphic attributing a statement to billionaire businessman and Heirs Holdings Chairman, Tony Elumelu, claiming that Nigeria lost 97 per cent of its crude oil production to theft before President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office has been found to be misleading.
The graphic, widely circulated on WhatsApp and other social media platforms, quotes Elumelu as saying: “We were losing 97% of our oil production to theft before Tinubu reforms; now we retain 98% and have unlimited access to dollars. I’m not a politician; I can tell the truth.”
The post has generated widespread reactions, with many users interpreting the figures as official national statistics on Nigeria’s oil production.
However, a PRNigeria fact-check has established that while Elumelu made a similar statement, it has been taken out of context and inaccurately presented.
PRNigeria‘s verification confirmed that Elumelu made the remarks on July 25, 2025, during President Tinubu’s meeting with members of the Association of Power Generation Companies (GENCOs) at the Presidential Villa.
At the meeting, Elumelu stated: “Before you took office in 2023, we lost 97% of our daily oil production. Today, we are retaining 98%. That’s transformation.” The remarks were widely reported by mainstream media and supported by video recordings of the event.
However, further examination of the speech showed that Elumelu was referring specifically to the operational experience of Heirs Energies’ OML 17 oil asset, not Nigeria’s overall crude oil production.
PRNigeria also reviewed official figures released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), which paint a markedly different picture. According to the regulator, Nigeria lost about 20.9 million barrels in 2022, representing approximately 4.26 per cent of national crude production. In 2023, losses declined to about 4.3 million barrels, or 0.94 per cent of production. 2024 recorded further improvement, with losses dropping to 4.1 million barrels, representing 0.85 per cent of production, while between January and July 2025, losses stood at approximately 2.04 million barrels, or 0.65 per cent of production.
Read Also:
The official figures therefore do not support claims that Nigeria ever lost 97 per cent of its total crude oil production to theft.
PRNigeria found that Heirs Energies had previously disclosed severe crude theft challenges on its OML 17 asset, where pipeline vandalism reportedly resulted in only a small proportion of produced crude reaching export terminals. Following security improvements and operational reforms, the company later reported a dramatic recovery in crude evacuation. The widely circulated 97 per cent figure therefore relates to Heirs Energies’ operational losses, not Nigeria’s national crude oil output.
The fact-check also established that although Elumelu praised improvements in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market under the Tinubu administration, saying businesses no longer needed personal connections at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to obtain foreign exchange, he never claimed companies now enjoy “unlimited access to dollars.” PRNigeria found that the phrase appears to have been added by the creators of the viral graphic, exaggerating Elumelu’s original remarks. Foreign exchange access in Nigeria remains subject to regulatory requirements, market conditions and documentation.
PRNigeria‘s examination of the viral image found no evidence that it was produced using artificial intelligence or digitally manipulated beyond conventional social media design. Rather, the misinformation stems from presenting a genuine quotation without its proper context, leading readers to wrongly assume Elumelu was referring to Nigeria’s national oil production instead of his company’s operations.
PRNigeria therefore concludes that the viral claim is misleading. While Tony Elumelu did make the statement cited, it referred to the recovery of crude production at Heirs Energies’ OML 17 asset, not Nigeria’s national oil output. Official government data contradicts the claim that the country lost 97 per cent of its crude production before 2023, while the widely shared assertion about “unlimited access to dollars” was not part of Elumelu’s original remarks.
The fact-check underscores the importance of verifying the context of public statements before sharing viral claims, particularly on issues relating to the economy, public policy and national development.
FACT‑CHECK: Did Tony Elumelu Really Say Nigeria Lost 97% of Its Oil to Theft Before Tinubu? https://prnigeria.com/2026/08/26/elumelu-nigeria-lost-oil/
By PRNigeria
