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.
his 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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