Drums of oil

 

More than 38 million litres of Petroleum Motor Spirit(PMS) or fuel are diverted daily, Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Hameed Ali said yesterday. Ali said he found it hard to understand why the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, which put Nigeria’s daily fuel consumption at 60 million litres, releases 98 million litres into the market. He stated this during his interactive session with the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Frame and Fiscal Strategy Paper. Explaining that the diversion of the excess 38 million litres“is not about smuggling,” he queried: “How many trucks will carry 38 million litres every day? Which road are they following and where are they carrying this thing to?” In an apparent response to Ali’s poser, the Deputy Chairman of the committee, who presided over the session,  Saidu   Abdullahi, said that about 500 trucks(with 70,000 liter-capacity each) are needed to ferry the 38 million excess  litres. Abdullahi wondered “if the Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) had at any time captured images of trucks leaving our shores.”
Nation