The federal government says it has facilitated the use of a tracking device to track every truck loading petroleum products from any of its depots as part of efforts to nip contraband in the bud and stop trafficking. guilty.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said this during a forum organized by the Nigeria News Agency (NAN) to assess the achievements recorded in the oil and gas sector over the past two years.
Sylva noted that much had been accomplished in the industry but that the activities of the smugglers had continued to eclipse the successes especially when it came to subsidizing fuels and the amount of petroleum products consumed in the country.
“This is a big question that we are trying to answer ourselves because when we look at the number of unloads from our depots each day, we know that we do not have this level of consumption of petroleum products in Nigeria,” he said. he declared. .
According to Sylva, the time has come for the government to track the products leaving its depots to ensure that they are delivered directly to designated gas stations around the country.
He said the era of smuggling goods across the country’s borders is over as it negatively contributes to the high number of liters of petroleum products that would be consumed daily in the country.
“We were able to set up a tracking system to track the trucks loading from the depots, so that we are sure that when they load products from the depots, they take them directly to the gas stations.
“When you say that Nigerians consume 60 million liters and you look at the number of cars on Nigerian roads, you will know that those 60 million liters cannot be consumed in Nigeria.
“But we have a situation where the price of our products here is cheaper than the price across the border; sometimes the price across the border is double or even more than double our own price here.
“So it’s a profit opportunity, and some people will want to take our product and sell it across the border to make some extra money.
“That’s what happened and it really twists our own system here because if you say you’re going to subsidize the product, the subsidy is supposed to subsidize Nigerians and not those outside of Nigeria.
“But as it is now, we seem to be subsidizing all of Africa, and how can we support such a movement; that’s why the grant amount is increasing every day, ”Sylva said.
He also said security officers, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) would take steps to ensure that the smugglers are apprehended and brought to justice.
“We know that our consumption data is inflated, not by us but because of the leaks that we are trying to control.
“If you have a structure as it is today and the incentive for smugglers is too high, it forces them not to stop unless the government is ruthless, and that’s why we involve security agencies.
“This month they may be smuggled to the Republic of Niger and next month someone will discover a route to Chad and another person is smuggling to Cameroon and the Republic of Benin, while some could go as far as Togo or Ghana.
“And that is why our perceived consumption is increasing every day and if we continue to do so and keep our gasoline prices low, it will be difficult for us to make progress.
“In some communities we have a situation where someone’s farmland is in Cameroon and their house is in Nigeria, so how do you prevent that person from crossing the border,” Sylva added.
The petroleum minister further said that apart from tracking systems, other technological solutions would be applied to resolve the problem as soon as possible. (NAN)
