John Ofikhenua, Abuja
Urges probe of the scheme
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), yesterday objected to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) pronouncement that Nigeria consumes over 60 million litres per day.
IPMAN’s National Vice President, Debo Ahmed, in a chat with The Nation, therefore appealed to President Bola Tinubu, to as a matter of urgency, probe the management of the subsidy fund as this would put his administration in a pole position to know how much can be truly saved for infrastructure and education from the subsidy scheme before looking forward to the expected N13 trillion savings annually from phasing out subsidy.
According to Ahmed, President Tinubu should know that N13 trillion is not the real figure of subsidy, therefore, removing it (subsidy) immediately without knowing the availability of product and what the daily consumption is, but merely banking on the N13 trillion being bandied, could pose a challenge for his administration.
“This is because people will be expecting that he has N13 trillion to come to the government purse for infrastructure. He has to study it a little to know the rigmarole of everything because the former subsidy is full of corruption. This is because we are not consuming the 60million litres per day. So he can remove it after getting his acts right,” Ahmed advised, adding that the President may be disappointed if he cannot save N13 trillion from subsidy removal.
The IPMAN boss however commended the decision to phase out subsidy, recalling that his association has been advocating the removal of subsidy. “We have been having some feelings that there is going to be removal of subsidy. So, it is not a new thing. It did not come as a surprise because we have been expecting that. We are yet to see the difference. It is only when we see the difference we will know what to say. But as far as we are concerned it doesn’t matter to us. But it is commendable,” Ahmed told The Nation.
Last year, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Comptroller – General, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), openly objected to the NNPCL claim of 67 million litres daily consumption, stressing it was impossible to load, convey and consume the volume on daily basis. His objection came on the heels of the NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Malam Mele Kyari blaming petrol scarcity amid daily supply of over 60million litres on smugglers.
On April 3, the NNPCL, in its document titled “PMS Weekly Evacuation & Dispatch,” said between March, 25 and March 31, 2023, the total volume of petrol evacuated from the various 33 depots in Nigeria was 515.99 million litres.
The document, which NNPCL accredited to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA ), noted that average daily evacuation for the week was 73.7 1million litres. It also added that average daily consumption of the product was 65.62 million litres. The latest information on the site was the one of June 5, 2022.
When The Nation contacted the NMDPRA’s Corporate Affairs General Manager, Mr. Apollo Kimchi, on why the website has not been updated since last year June, he simply said: “I have not been around. I will confirm the information tomorrow (Today).” NMDPRA has stopped publishing information on product importation on its website since early this year when it said it has been upgrading it.
The NNPCL Chief Communications Officer, Garba Deen Muhammad, failed to respond to both phone calls and text messages from The Nation.
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