NNPC, DPR, Customs Set Up Task Force To End Smuggling

A tripartite committee consisting of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), has been set up to tackle the growing incidents of petroleum products smuggling to neighbouring countries.

The inaugural meeting which was held at the Customs House on Tuesday in Abuja, was attended by the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru, Comptroller General of the Customs, Col. Hammed Ali, and the Director of the DPR, Mr. Mordecai Ladan.

Speaking at the inauguration, NNPC boss Baru said the smuggling of petroleum products across the country’s borders was causing serious revenue losses, and had been rendering all efforts of the Government to make sure petroleum products are appropriately distributed across the country useless.

“The negative impact of smuggling is that it is undermining Nigeria’s economic growth as a huge amount of money is spent in terms of under recovery. This huge loss is draining the treasury. Remember these are monies that could be used to develop several critical sectors of the economy,” Baru said.

The job of the committee would include closing down unlicensed filling station having discovered that some stations along the borderline had been identified as being responsible for the smuggling of petroleum products.

They will make sure such filling stations are closed, and also tackle other methods used in smuggling petroleum products.

Col. Alli said the committee would also monitor the activities of licensed filling stations.

“We have enough men and resources that can manage the nation’s 4,070Km borderline and address this menace once and for all. What we need, however, is information on a real time basis,” the Customs boss said.

Some other efforts have been made in the past including the DPR creating and distributed the National Production Monitoring System (NPMS), to track petroleum production and its movement.