Some African Countries Rely On Petrol Smuggled From Nigeria –NNPC Official

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An official of the NNPC Limited has revealed that with N5 million only, anyone can smuggle trucks of petroleum products out of Nigeria.

The Chief Financial Officer of NNPC Limited, Umar Ajia, disclosed this on Monday while appearing before the House of Representatives committee investigating fuel subsidy in Nigeria.

Mr Ajia, who represented the CEO of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, said some West African and Central African countries have stopped importing petroleum products and depend solely on smuggled products from Nigeria.

He specifically stated countries like Cameroon and Benin Republic have stopped importing fuel and depend completely on the smuggled products from Nigeria due to the porous border.

“If you have N5 million, you can cross the borders with trucks laden with PMS— that is the bitter truth— we have porous borders. Yes, we have Customs but I do not know.

“PMS crosses everywhere, to Cameroon through the North-east, Nigerian PMS gets to Mali. Our neighbouring countries hardly import PMS. In fact, some of them do not have the cover to back up imports.

“Cameroon refinery got burnt sometime last year or so, since that time, they have not imported PMS but they are still using PMS; if you go to Niger, you find that PMS is sold in bottles.

“To them, it is a cheaper source, why waste their foreign exchange, so we are subsidising our neighbours, that is the simple truth,” he said.

Mr Ajia blamed the arbitrage that exists due to the subsidy in Nigeria for the smuggling. He noted that the Nigerian government spends N209 on every litre as subsidy.

He reiterated that NNPC limited and other agencies of government have no idea of the exact daily consumption of PMS in Nigeria. According to him, the 66.7 million daily consumption is based on the truck out from the depot.

“States that consume the most are states like Oyo and Ogun State, they even consume more than Lagos State. So you wonder, is it that they have more vehicles than Lagos? This explains that these are states with porous borders and that will explain why this bulk evacuation is going out of Oyo and Ogun states, probably neighbouring countries,” he said.