The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Thursday hinted that it was collaborating with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), security agencies and relevant downstream and upstream stakeholders in the petroleum industry to combat the increasingly worrisome problems of petroleum products’ smuggling and crude oil theft in the country.
The corporation’s Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, who made the disclosure at a stakeholders’ meeting at the NNPC Towers, Abuja, said that the collaboration was sequel to President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive which mandated the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the NNPC, the EFCC and all other security agencies to stop crude oil theft and illicit truck-out of petroleum products.
According to him, the president classified oil theft as one of the major economic crimes that have continued to deny Nigerians the opportunity of enjoying the benefits of subsidized petroleum products.
Conscious of the magnitude of the assignment given the agencies, Kyari appealed to all industry stakeholders to collaborate with the corporation to curtail abuses in the downstream sector, particularly by helping to ensure that refined petroleum products are not smuggled out of the country.
A statement issued by the NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, quoted Kyari as further pointing out that such a collaboration among stakeholders would help to bring down the daily petroleum products consumption which, for instance, rose to 102million litres last month to a realistic level of about 60million litres.
He explained: “It is obvious to all that that volume of premium motor spirit (PMS) is not consumed by Nigerians alone.
“We all agree that smuggling is not a business that should be condoned because even for deregulated petroleum products it brings extra cost burden on this country both in terms of safety and security of supply and in securing of foreign exchange.
“It even constitutes more burden to this country when the product involved is a regulated product like Premium Motor Spirit (PMS),” Kyari added.
The GMD pointed out that with the increasing price of crude oil at the global market and the OPEC+ production cuts, Nigeria cannot afford to shoulder the cost of smuggling, adding that “we all know that our daily consumption is not up to 60million litres. We all know that, and that is why we have to pull it down. We will pull it down by every means necessary.”
Kyari said that the corporation would embrace the Advanced Cargo Declaration in line with global best practices to tackle the issue of crude oil theft in the country.
In his remarks during the virtual meeting, the EFCC’s Executive Chairman, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa, assured the readiness of the anti-graft agency to synergize efforts with the NNPC to ensure that all those involved in the oil industry’s economic crimes are brought to book.
Other participating groups’ representatives, including the Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMA), Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) also promised to partner with the NNPC in order to end petroleum products’ smuggling across the nation’s borders.
