A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has alleged that the smuggling of petrol to neighbouring countries is being “officially carried out”.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, on Monday, advised the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to establish petrol retail stations in neighbouring countries as a way of curbing smuggling.
According to TheCable, Falana stated that he made a similar recommendation to the NNPC some years ago, noting that after initially accepting the idea, it was later abandoned “due to pressure from the powerful smugglers”.
“Sometimes these smugglers are accompanied by criminally minded security people. And now to stop this nefarious crime, I have pleaded with the government; let NNPC build mega stations in the neighbouring countries, Cameroon, Togo, Benin up to Ghana,” he said.
“Once you do that, Nigeria will supply directly. I mean, if I take off in Lagos here going to Cotonou and you’re going to Ibadan, I’ll get to Cotonou before you. What is the problem? But because the business of smuggling is officially carried out.
“Last year, DPR said that our consumption rate is 38.2 million litres per day. A few months later, NNPC claimed that the figure had jumped to 102 million litres.
“The entire fuel consumed in the entire West African region is not up to that figure, it’s not up to 100 million litres. That is, from Dakar, Senegal to Nigeria.”
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Falana stated that Hameed Ali “has been on the neck of the NNPC” about the smuggling of petrol, “so he spoke out two days ago out of frustration”.
Falana said the NNPC, using the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) building-up model, could set up mega stations in neighbouring countries.
Falana stated that the customs chief spoke up at the national assembly to get assistance because the NNPC was unwilling to work on the suggestion.
