Govt Official Reveals How Petrol Trucks are smuggled out of Nigeria

By Tolulope Oke

The Chief Financial Officer of NNPC Limited, Umar Ajia, disclosed that with N5 million only, anyone can smuggle trucks of petrol products out of Nigeria, Premium Times report.

He disclosed this on Monday while appearing before the House of Representatives committee investigating fuel subsidy in Nigeria.

Ajia explained that due to Nigeria’s porous border, nations like Cameroon and the Benin Republic no longer import petroleum and are entirely dependent on smuggled goods from Nigeria.

“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.

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“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.

Ajia blamed the arbitrage that results from Nigeria’s subsidy for the smuggling. He claimed that the Nigerian government must pay N209 in subsidies for each litre of fuel.

He emphasized that no government agency, including NNPC Limited, is aware of the precise daily usage of PMS in Nigeria. He asserts that the truck leaving the depot serves as the foundation for the 66.7 million people’s daily consumption.

“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.

Ajia stated that in addition to price differences, the subsidy plan also has a foreign exchange component.

The federal government is currently suggesting allocating over N3.5 trillion for fuel subsidies in the first two quarters of 2023.