Abuja – The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Mele Kyari says Oyo and Ogun States consume more Premium Motor Spirits (PMS) known as petrol than any other state in the country.
Kyari disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at the resumed investigative hearing into the subsidy regime from 2013 to 2021 held by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee headed by Hon. Ibrahim Mustapha.
He, however, said that the product may be going through these states, through porous borders, to neighbouring countries.
He also informed that N3.4 trillion is the required fuel subsidy for the 66.7 million litre of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) daily consumption against the N4 trillion approved in this year’s Appropriation Act.
“States that consume the most are states like Oyo and Ogun State, they even consume more than Lagos State, so you wonder, is it that they have more vehicles than Lagos.
“This explains that these are States with porous borders and that will explain why this bulk evacuation is going out of Oyo and Ogun States, probably to neighboring countries,” he said.
Kyari said the country, which produced 2.3mbpd before Covid-19, currently produces between 1.6mbpd and 1.2mbpd against 1.8mbpd approved by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Kyari, who was represented by the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Umar Ajia said: “We have about 1.6 billion litres incoming, land and marine. This is what is the minimum level we have to maintain, especially as we approach winter.
“Most of the refineries that we procure are actually shutting down their operations because of the clamour for green energy and COP26 compliance.
“Even gas that is transition fuel for us is being given 8 years. Of course, we do not agree. When you look at PMS outlook, we won’t be closing each and every month with a 2 billion closing stock.
“That is the only way you can sustain petroleum so that the marketer do not see some slack and take advantage by begin to hoard product that can create artificial scarcity which can lead to queue.
“There is a huge arbitrage for anybody to move product to outside. We are not saying that bulk of the product is smuggled. The reality is that there is no study to validate the actual consumption.
“What we are reporting daily is what the authority, which is the regulator publishes. They are represented at every depot in Nigeria.
“Exchange rate has been moving steadily from N195.5 per dollar to now N390.6 to a dollar, on average. The subsidy scheme is two ways, the foreign exchange subsidy and price.
“The shipping cost has doubled, therefore, the landing cost of PMS has moved from N87 per litre in 2015 to about N327.68 per litre today.
“When you compare it to what we are sell, you have a N209 on every litre. When you multiply the N209 per litre with an average of 66.7 million litre, you are talking about N3.4 trillion subsidy for the year.
“As you recall, in the 2022 appropriation, the National Assembly. The reality today is that if one were to take statistic of the number of vehicles in Nigeria, how many Keke Napep do we have? How many pumping machine, how many pumping machines do we have.
“On a routine visit, I saw nothing less than a million Keke, take an average that each one uses 4 litres every day, that is 4 million litres, one city.
“We have not done a study to validate, people are saying that how is it that we are evacuating 66 million a day, that is the reality.
“Some days, what is evacuated can go as much as 100 million a day, while some weekends, we do zero. The marketers are watching.” (Punch)
