The Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali, has faulted the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd over the claim that it supplies about 98 million litres of petrol for the country on a daily basis when the actual consumption is 60 million litres per day.
Ali spoke yesterday when he appeared at an interactive session on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2023-2025 before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance.
Responding to questions on how customs was tackling the issue of smuggling of petrol outside the country, the customs boss blamed the NNPC for some of the infractions in the country’s oil sector.
He also decried the country’s current subsidy regime which is projected to gulp over N6 trillion in 2023, describing it as a fraud.
“If you know this is our consumption, why do you allow that lifting? That computation to me is not anything to be believed because scientifically, you cannot tell me that I filled my tank today and tomorrow, I will still fill my tank with the same quantity of fuel.
“So, how do we get to 60 million litres every day? These are my problems. If you say you release 98 million litres and then, we use only 60 million litres; the balance will be 38 million litres. How many trucks will the 38 million litres everyday be? That will be almost 500 trucks; which roads are they following? Where are they carrying them to?” he asked.
Ali said the service had been doing well in addressing the issues of smuggling of products across the country’s land borders, adding that the major challenge had been that of smuggling that occurred along the waterways. Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Sa’idu Abdullahi, while speaking at the session, said there was an urgent need to find a lasting solution to the issue of petroleum subsidy in the country.
“You talked about 38 million litres which amount to about 500 trucks leaving this shore on a daily basis; we have investment in NIGCOMSAT; do we have captured images of these trucks leaving our shores?
“Society will be kind enough to us if we have been able to proffer a lasting solution to subsidy because it is not sustainable. Money that should go into social services is being spent on subsidies which end in private pockets,” he said.
