The Acting Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi, on Monday, vowed a heavy clampdown on oil thieves, insisting that the nation cannot “afford to let saboteurs take over our economy.”
Adeniyi, who said there were still cases of smuggling of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, at Nigeria’s border stations despite the removal of subsidy on the commodity, said the agency had adopted new border patrol strategies to close in on oil thieves.
He made the disclosure on the sidelines of a sensitisation workshop on the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023 for management staff of the NCS in Abuja.
Adeniyi spoke as the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited on Monday said it intercepted a suspected Cameroon-bound vessel with a cargo of crude oil on board.
The Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPCL, Garba Muhammad, said in a statement that the cargo was intercepted on July 7, 2023, by a private security contractor engaged by the NNPCL, Messrs Tantita Security Services.
“Following the receipt of credible intelligence, a private security contractor engaged by NNPC Ltd., Messrs Tantita Security Services, intercepted a suspicious vessel with a cargo of crude oil on board on July 7, 2023,” the statement read in part.
It added that the vessel, which is owned by a Nigerian registered company, was heading to Cameroun when it was apprehended.
“The Vessel, MT TURA II (IMO number: 6620462), owned by a Nigerian Registered Company, Holab Maritime Services Limited with registration number RC813311, was heading to Cameroun with the cargo on board when it was apprehended at an offshore location (Latitude: 5.8197194477543235°, Longitude: 4.789002723991871°), with the Captain and Crew members on board,” it said.
President Bola Tinubu announced the end of the petrol subsidy during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, after the Federal Government had kept subsidising the product for several decades, spending trillions of naira in the process.
The government had repeatedly complained that petrol from Nigeria was being smuggled to other West African countries, due to it low price in Nigeria as a result of subsidy, when compared to its cost in these nations.
To address this and other fuel subsidy-related concerns, a lot of institutions and professionals had called for a halt in the subsidy regime, which was eventually implemented by Tinubu.
But the Customs CG revealed on Monday that smuggling had reduced but it had not stopped in some border stations.
As such, he said the agency was reviewing its enforcement strategies, adding that based on the new Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023, there would be heavy penalties against violators of the recently passed legislation.
Asked whether petrol was still being smuggled out of Nigeria after the removal of subsidy on the commodity, he replied, “We still have some incidences in some border stations.
“The rate has reduced and we are going to be watching the situation very closely. The situation of fuel is very sensitive and we cannot afford to let the saboteurs take over our economy.”
Enforcement strategy review
Commenting on plans by the service to review policies that constitute obstacles to trade, Adeniyi said this had to do with the enforcement strategies of the NCS, as well as its procedures and processes at the ports.
“One of the things that I intend to do as we start is that we need to take a look at our procedures and processes in the ports and border areas. Also, our enforcement strategies. We are going to review all that.
“And we want to do them in such a way that they promote user-friendliness and economic growth without compromising our national security. We will get details when we unfold the plans,” Adeniyi stated.
NNPCL intercepts
Meanwhile, NNPCL said its preliminary investigations revealed that the crude oil cargo on board was illegally sourced from a well jacket offshore Ondo State, Nigeria.
The NNPCL spokesman, Muhammad, said there was no valid documentation for the vessel or the crude oil cargo on board at the time of the arrest.
“Further investigation into the activities of the vessel at the NNPC Ltd. Command and Control Centre also revealed that the vessel has been operating in stealth mode for the last 12 years. The last reported location of the vessel was Tin Can Port in July 2011.
“Details of this arrest and the outcomes of the investigations were escalated to the appropriate government authorities, upon which it was concluded to destroy the vessel to serve as a strong warning and deterrent to all those participating in such illegal activities to cease and desist,” he said.
Stressing that it was important to destroy vessels involved in transporting stolen crude oil, Muhammad said the illegal trade of stolen crude oil inflicts significant economic losses on Nigeria and legitimate stakeholders in the oil industry.
He added that oil theft “also perpetuates a cycle of corruption, environmental devastation, and social instability.”
“At a time we brought a technology for them (Customs), where you can track any truck by knowing where it is coming from or where it is going. But immediately we were about rolling it out, COVID-19 struck.
“So there are technologies to fight these things and if they want to collaborate with us we will bring it up again. IPMAN is ready to demonstrate it again if they are ready to work with us,” he stated.
On his part, the President, Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, told our correspondent that PETROAN had developed a technology to help tackle this.
He said, “A criminal will always be a criminal. Most times there is nothing you can do to deter a criminal until you mitigate their criminal activities. That is why PETROAN developed a 3-P solution, which is the Petroleum Product Passport solution that will completely stamp out smuggling.
“This is because nobody will be able to smuggle products when this solution is deployed, for at the end of the day we have to depend on a technology that is dependable and reliable. The 3-P solution is working for PETROAN, so we recommend it to the Federal Government and other operators in the downstream sector.”
Also speaking on the issue, the Secretary, IPMAN, Abuja-Suleja, Mohammed Shuaibu, “The customs serviceman the borders of Nigeria and they should do their work. Let them go after the smugglers, for as far as we are concerned, deregulation has come to stay.
Meanwhile, some oil marketers said cross border smuggling of petrol would persist except prices in Nigeria correlates with prices of fuel in neighbouring countries.
A former Chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria and CEO/MD of 11 Plc, Tunji Oyebanji, said the real prices of petrol would be determined by the price of the product in neighbouring countries.
“The Federal Government needs to eradicate the economic incentives that are making marketers be willing to take products meant for Nigeria outside the country, and that would happen when independent marketers start importing, and prices at the pump reflect the new landing cost. But as we speak, we are still selling products being sold to us by the NNPCL which is still being subsidised, so it is Nigeria that is losing, not marketers. Rumour has it that about 30 per cent of products are being smuggled out of the country, so that’s where the problem is currently,” he said.
A professor of Economics at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Tella Sheriffdeen, advised the government to activate local refining.
