The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited cannot justify the volume of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol, being consumed in the country daily to warrant the over N6.34 trillion subsidy payment.

The Comptroller-General of NCS, Col. Hameed Ali (retd.), also said NNPC cannot scientifically prove that Nigerians use 98 million litres per day as being claimed, alleging that the nation’s oil company was supplying 38 million litres in excess of petrol daily.

The Comptroller-General made this known on Thursday in his presentation to the House of Representatives Committee on Finance at the continued hearing on the proposed 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper in Abuja, The Punch reports.

Ali had been asked by the committee about the like deficit of between N11 trillion and 12 trillion in the 2023 budget as proposed in the 2023-2025 MTEF/FSP.

Ali faulted the NNPC on its subsidy claims, saying,

I remember that last year we spoke about this. Unfortunately, this year, we are talking about subsidy again. The over N11 trillion we are going to take as debt, more than half of it is going for subsidy. The issue is not about smuggling of petroleum products. I have always argued this with NNPC.

If we are consuming 60 million litres of PMS per day, by their own computation, why would you allow the release of 98 million litres per day? If you know this is our consumption, why would you allow that release?

Scientifically, you cannot tell me that if I fill my tank today, tomorrow, I will fill the same tank with the same quantity of fuel. If I am operating a fuel station today and I go to Minna depot, lift petrol and take it to Kaduna, I may get to Kaduna in the evening and offload that fuel. There is no way I would have sold off that petrol immediately to warrant another load. So, how did you get to 60 million litre per day? That is my problem.

The issue of smuggling: if you release 98 million litre in actual and 60 million litres is used, the balance should be 38 million litres. How many trucks will carry 38 million litres every day? Which road are they following and where are they carrying this thing to?

The Federal Government is proposing a budget with estimates totalling N19.76 trillion, while the deficit will be between N11.30tn and N12.41tn in the 2023 fiscal year.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, who appeared before the committee on Monday decried that the government might be unable to provide for treasury-funded capital projects next year, especially due to dwindling revenue and annual payment of N6.34 trillion subsidy on petrol.

The committee’s Deputy Chairman, Saidu Abdullahi, who presided over the hearing, decried that funds under the subsidy scheme, which should have been used to finance capital projects, were being diverted into private pockets.

Meanwhile, Ali told the committee that the NCS would meet its revenue projection of N2.272 trillion for 2022, N2.873 trillion for 2023, N3.540 trillion for 2024 and N3.752 trillion for 2025.

Ali, explained that the NCS wrote to the Presidency seeking virement of N4bn to cater for pending legal debts, adding that inadequate funds might cause the Service to pay as much as N20 billion for a suit of N3 billion for default. When the lawmakers queried the sum of N6.7 billion spent on legal matters out of N7.5 billion approved in the 2021 Appropriation Act, with another N9.2 billion proposed in the 2023 budget.

The NCS boss was tasked by the lawmakers with ensuring remittances of 80 per cent of the operating surplus to the government coffers as prescribed by the Finance Act, adding that the Customs should propose an amendment to the extant law with a view to addressing whatever concerns might arise.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Consumption has begun investigating the volume of petroleum products being consumed in the country daily.

This is to resolve the controversy over how much fuel Nigerians consume daily, with the payment of fuel subsidy expected to rise to N6.72 trillion in 2023. N4 trillion was budgeted for fuel subsidy in 2022.

Chairman of the Committee, Uzoma Abonta, led other members of the committee on an oversight visit to tank farms in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

The lawmakers were conducted around the farms by Mr George Ene-Ita, Regional Coordinator, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, South-South Regional Office, Calabar, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Abonta said in view of the current debate on whether fuel subsidy should be removed or not, the House of Representatives set up the committee to ascertain the product consumption in the country.

According to him, the report of the committee will be used by the House as an indicator to perfect the issues surrounding the subsidy.

We are trying to find out the volume of product being consumed in the country daily. This report will be used by the House of Representatives as an indicator to perfect other issues.

Subsidy has become a topical issue that has bedevilled Nigeria for a long while and you cannot get or calculate subsidy without knowing the actual volume.

At the end of the exercise, if we get it right, the House of Representatives will be in a better position to direct or properly place this issue of subsidy or to do otherwise.

From what the Nigeria Customs Service had told us about products getting into our neighbouring countries, if that is true, then it is not part of what we claim we consume,

he said.

He noted that part of the committee’s mandate was also to find out the exact volume of product brought into the country.

For now, we are on a mission to find out the volume of product being brought into the country and in doing that, we need to take comparative and quantitative data from all the depots.

After that, we can then analyse our consumption on a monthly or yearly basis; then we can place it side by side with the subsidy paid out.

There has been so much controversy on the issue of subsidy; especially on who paid what, who got what and the issue of value,

he added.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.