The House of Representatives
Ad Hoc Committee on fuel
subsidy regime yesterday
learnt that Nigerians have
been paying for 24million litres
of petrol that were smuggled
to neighbouring countries on a
daily basis.
Quote
Summary
This was revealed when the
management of the Petroleum
Products Pricing and Regulatory
Agency (PPPRA) and the
Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) appeared
before the Farouk Lawan-led
committee.
PPPRA Executive Secretary
Reginald Stanley said the
payment and smuggling have
been going on since 2006.
According to the agency’s
figures, while Nigeria imports
59 million litres of fuel on a daily
basis, only 35 million litres are
consumed in the country.
The Federal Government paid
N649 billion subsidy on excess
imported petrol in 2011, House
of Representatives ad-hoc
committee investigating the
subsidy regime was told
yesterday in Abuja.
The revelation contradicted
statistics given by Petroleum
Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke,
who told the panel on Tuesday
that the average daily
consumption of petrol in Nigeria
was 35 million litres.
Stanley told the MPs that records
available to him showed that the
total daily import of petrol was
59 million litres thereby leaving
a huge difference of 24 million
litres. The new figures bring the
annual over importation of
petrol to 8.76 billion litres.
When computed side-by-side
with the regulated price of N65
per litre which obtained in
2011, Nigeria might have spent
N649.3 billion as subsidies on
excess petrol.
“You told us that subsidies were
paid based on 59 million litres
daily consumption while the
actual daily consumption is 35
million litres, leaving the gap of
24 million litres which is paid
for as subsidy but not utilised by
Nigerians.
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