"For the past few years, Nigeria hasn't actually done much on exploration and that is why our reserves are not growing," Mr Lokpobiri said.

The Minister for State, Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, on Thursday, said Nigeria's oil reserves are not growing because of the lack of exploration activities in the country over the years.

Mr Lokpobiri disclosed this when Governor Usman Ododo of Kogi State paid a courtesy visit to the minister in his office on Thursday.

"For the past few years, Nigeria hasn't actually done much on exploration and that is why our reserves are not growing," Mr Lokpobiri said.

"Our reserves are about 37 billion barrels. Our reserves should be times two of that. The reason why we haven't been able to update our records is because not much exploration was done in the last 12 years."

He said harnessing the country's oil and gas resources remains the easiest way to come out of economic woes it is currently experiencing.

He added that it has become necessary for Nigeria to increase its oil production as the world moves towards abandonment of fossil fuels.

According to him, the oil production in Nigeria, during the COVID era without new investment, was about 2.4 million barrels per day, noting that there was an urgent need to address concerns currently affecting crude oil production in the country.

"Those wells are still there. So once we address the security concerns, other concerns, the evacuation issues, we can easily go back to 2.4 million barrels per day," he said.

Speaking further, he assured that the government would partner with Kogi State through the frontier exploration fund to carry out exploration activities.