As the House of Reps investigation of the NNC’s claim of 98m litres of fuels Nigerians consume daily, the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (retd.), has punctured the company’s excuse of smuggling as the reason.
According to him, the NNPC cannot scientifically prove the 98 million litres/day consumption it is claiming.
“I remember that last year we spoke about this. Unfortunately, this year, we are talking about subsidy again. The over N11tn we are going to take as debt, more than half of it is going for subsidy. The issue is not about smuggling of petroleum products. I have always argued this with NNPC,” Hammed told the House committee probing the matter when asked about the steady rise in budget deficit owing to fuel subsidy
“If we are consuming 60 million litres of PMS per day, by their own computation, why would you allow the release of 98 million litres per day? If you know this is our consumption, why would you allow that release? Scientifically, you cannot tell me that if I fill my tank today, tomorrow, I will fill the same tank with the same quantity of fuel.
“If I am operating a fuel station today and I go to Minna depot, lift petrol and take it to Kaduna, I may get to Kaduna in the evening and offload that fuel. There is no way I would have sold off that petrol immediately to warrant another load. So, how did you get to 60 million litre per day? That is my problem.
“The issue of smuggling: if you release 98 million litre in actual and 60 million litres is used, the balance should be 38 million litres. How many trucks will carry 38 million litres every day? Which road are they following and where are they carrying this thing to?”
Nigeria is planning to borrow about 12 trillion between 2023 and 2025, and about half of it will fund fuel subsidy.