There’s no point praying for a hike in the global oil price if you’re giving away billions in tax breaks to energy firms
Nigeria has lost billions of dollars because of a 10-year tax break given to Shell, Total and Eni, three of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies.
That staggering $3.3bn (£2.3bn) revenue loss, in a country where millions of people live in extreme poverty, is best understood through the social cost. The tax giveaway, which started in 1999, forfeited an opportunity to grant 70 million young Nigerians access to quality education, rebuild the university system and tackle entrenched problems in the health system.
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