The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, has revealed that under the recently ended subsidy regime, petrol smugglers made not less than N17 million per truck in neighbouring countries.
Kyari made this known in an interview in Abuja.
While commenting on the government’s efforts to deregulate the oil and gas sector, he explained that cross-border smuggling was rampant due to the fuel subsidy, with smugglers making no less than N17 million per trip on a 6,000-liter truck.
Kyari noted, however, that the same truckload would generate no more than N500,000 if sold within Nigeria, in a state like Borno, for instance.
According to him, the country was no longer losing such revenue to smuggling since the removal of subsidy, as fuel prices are now adjusted to reflect their true market value.
“There is no longer any value in anyone taking the product across the border. If you do, you’re not going to make those profits than you do.
“In a 6,000 litre truck, you can actually gain up to N17 million from just one truck. How are you going to stop someone who with two trips can just easily make N17 million times two—which is the price of the truck itself.
“However, when you take a truck legally, maybe N8 million, say, to Maiduguri, the legitimate value you have is less than N500,000. Why will I see N17 million and then take all the trouble to go to Maiduguri, keep it in the fuel station for one month and then make N3 to N4 million. So, you see, as long as you are not in a subsidy regime, you won’t lose money,” Kyari said.
