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How Nigeria lost $48m to oil theft, vandalism in 2020, by NNPC

Malam Mele Kolo Kyari, Group Managing Director, NNPC

* The country also lost $825 million, $725 million in 2018 and 2019 respectively ─Malam Mele Kyari, GMD

* Says removal of fuel subsidy will stop smuggling of petroleum products

* ‘We don’t know how much petroleum we consume daily in this country’

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Amid the crippling consequences of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its attendant disruptions in the nation’s economy, Nigeria lost $48 million to pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft between January and June 2020.

It is practically impossible for now to stop the smuggling of crude oil products across the country’s borders to neighbouring countries, reports The Nation.

It was further learnt that the status quo is, even as the Federal Government requires $2billon to replace obsolete pipelines from Excravos to Kaduna, in Northern Nigeria.

Malam Mele Kolo Kyari, Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), disclosed these Tuesday, June 16, in Abuja, FCT.

Malam Kyari, who spoke at an interactive session on “Exiting Petroleum Subsidy: Ensuring Self-Sufficiency in Domestic Refining of Petroleum Products”, organised by the Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream and Downstream), disclosed that in 2020 alone, the country has lost about $48 million worth of crude oil due to pipeline vandalism and outright theft.

Kyari as well disclosed that in 2018 and 2019 alone, the country lost $825 million and $725 million respectively.

The reduction, he said, was because of the increased surveillance by the security agencies.

Pipelines are being destroyed within townships, not in the bush, with the active connivance of security agents, security contractors and community leaders.

According to the GMD, the NNPC has decided to hand over pipeline security completely to the security agencies.

“It is their work to secure government property,” he said.

On smuggling of petroleum products across the nation’s borders, he said that only way to stop the menace is to remove fuel subsidy completely.

He revealed “we don’t know how much petroleum we consume daily in this country, but we know how much of product is taken out of depot.”

About 54 million litres of petroleum products are evacuated from the depots daily, but that the consumption is somewhere below that, said the NNPC GMD.

He also acknowledged that the NNPC has no knowledge of the amount of products that are transported through the nation’s borders to neighbouring countries.

“It is impossible to know, nobody declares it, and therefore as it crosses, it goes,” he said.

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