The federal government has acknowledged that fuel smuggling from Nigeria to neighbouring countries is an issue that can not be entirely eradicated. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, highlighted this at the 2024 Energy and Labour Summit in Abuja, explaining that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) lacks the funds necessary to rebuild the nation’s aging pipelines, which contributes to the problem.

Lokpobiri pointed out that the old, corroded pipelines, some of which date back to the 1960s and 1970s, are easily vandalized, facilitating the illegal transport of fuel. The Minister also said that if NNPC imports PMS and sells to marketers at perhaps N600 or below, there’s no way that smuggling can stop and that the situation is exacerbated by security agents at the borders who are complicit in the smuggling activities.

Although the Minister was honest to indict the Federal Government in the smuggling of PMS which he blamed on lacks of funds necessary to rebuild the nation’s aging pipelines and security agents at the borders who are complicit in the smuggling activities, the reason adduced for smuggling are totally misleading. The Minister cannot be unaware of the deliberate encouragement of smuggling of PMS by the Federal Government and the deliberate sabotage of the national economy by the NNPCL.

In 2010, the federal government and a private company, TPMS, operated the policy on the basis of a PPP arrangement. Even though the system dealt a heavy blow to smuggling of petrol and oil theft, the arrangement was terminated in 2011. Since then, all efforts to restore the Cargo Trafficking Note have been frustrated. However, on August 9, 2018, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the installation of technology monitoring schemes and structures under the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) for N17 billion.

The then Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, disclosed that the deployment of the automated fuel system management and censor network would ensure 100 per cent tracking and monitoring of petroleum products as the system would enable Nigerians to know how much PMS is consumed in Nigeria; volumes of products moved out illegally and the whole impact on Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). But the 

automated fuel system management was never installed, while the contract sum of N17 billion was stolen. 

On July 13, 2024, the Federal Executive Council announced the award of a $21m contract for the metering of 187 crude oil flow stations in Nigeria, to properly account for the country’s production and exports. It was also disclosed that the council awarded another contract for the deployment of software that would enable the government to monitor the movement of Nigeria’s crude from the point of loading of every cargo in Nigeria up to the point of the cargo’s destination.

Mr. Heineken Lokpobiri, who disclosed Nigerians about the award of the two contracts, stated that “It is a major development that has never happened in this country. And this project is meant to be completed within six months, within 180 days." He also pointed out that the approved cost for the deployment of the meters was $21m, adding that it would be complemented with advanced cargo tracking technology.

Having awarded contracts for the metering of 187 crude oil flow stations in Nigeria complemented with advanced cargo tracking technology, a software for tracking and monitoring of petroleum products including PMS, the Federal Government cannot turn round to say that oil theft and smuggling of petrol out of Nigeria to neighboring countries will continue unabated to the detriment of the national economy.

Apart from the acquisition of the software to stop the smuggling of petroleum products from Nigeria, the NNPCL had embraced the suggestion to establish mega stations in the neighbouring countries. Both policies were, however, discarded by the NNPCL in order to boost the smuggling of PMS from Nigeria. 

In view of the foregoing, Mr. Lokpobiri should be advised to stop exposing Nigeria to ridicule by saying that the federal government lacks the capacity to curb the nefarious activities of smugglers. However, the federal government should come out clean if it has added to the monumental suffering of the Nigerian people by increasing the price of PMS. After all, from less than N700 in July, a litre of petrol has since risen gradually to above N1,000 in most filling stations since the beginning of August. The upward trend of the price of PMS has continued with no successful attempt to stop it as of today.

Femi Falana SAN,

The Chair,

Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB)