Border closure: FG Saves N2bn Daily From Smuggled 10m Litres Of Petrol
There are indications that over 10 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), better known as petrol is now being saved due to the ongoing partial border closure ordered by the Federal Government codenamed “Exercise Swift Response.”
Apart from the tremendous success the restriction of free movement across Nigerian borders has recorded, as well as curtailing disorderly acts, it has also come with equal measure of agony to citizens, just as it poses serious threats to other genuine businesses.
Also, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says the border restriction has achieved a lot, in addition to the borders now being fully secured, while smuggling has been reduced to the barest minimum.
According to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), prior to the closure of the borders, the country’s daily consumption of petrol was approximately 61 million litres, which has now reduced to 51.7 million as indicated in its latest figures, which was obtained between September 9 and 15.
The spokesman of the agency, Kimchi Apollo, who disclosed this in Abuja, Saturday, said, “according to statistics, figures recorded from various depots nationwide for the 5th to 11thAugust 2019 was about 61 million litres, representing the average volume trucked out before the border closure.”
Apollo, who is also the General Manager, Corporate Services of PPPRA, added that the agency observed that from the statistics obtained between August 12 and 18, 2019, a drop of about 35 percent in volume trucked out from the previous week was noticed, which could be attributed to the reduction in activities of various facilities during the Sallah holiday.
However, he added that from August 19 to 25, 2019, which falls within the period the borders were partially closed, the agency recorded an average daily truck out figure of about 57 million litres, which fell below the daily average figure for the week 5 to 11 August 2019.
“Similarly, from August 26 to September 1, 2019, 371.82 million litres of petrol was trucked out, averaging a daily figure of 53 million litres. This represents a decline of about four million litres when compared to the previous week.
“Available data from the Agency indicates that the downward trend continued from September 2 to 8. The daily average truck out figure for that week was 50.22 million litres, indicating a further reduction of 2.9 million litres.
However, there was a slight increment to 51.7 million from the September 9 to 15, 2019,” he explained.
Apollos said the high truck-out volume recorded before the partial closure of the borders could be attributed to the seepage of petroleum products across the borders, coupled with the widening fuel price arbitrage with neighbouring West African countries.
Said he: “While the downward trend in the consumption pattern is a welcome development, the agency assures stakeholders that efforts are being made not only to curb smuggling of products, but also to ensure that petroleum products are available in the country.”
The landing cost of petrol in Nigeria reportedly stands at N180 per litre, that is N35 higher than the pump price of N145 per litre. When put in context of the landing cost, Nigeria may be saving as much as N1.98b (approximately N2b) daily on account of the PMS, which would have been smuggled out.
Similarly, the development translates to about N385m worth of subsidy, which is being lost to neighbouring West African countries daily.
While Nigeria was about two years ago consuming about 35 million litres of petrol per day, the figure jumped up and soon hit 65 million litres per day. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation blamed smugglers for the high consumption, stressing that the product was being smuggled to as far as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Cote d’Ivoire because of the price differences.
