An exclusive industry data seen by BusinessDay has explained why Nigeria’s curious petrol consumption has kept the country in a bleeding state, a pain point for a government struggling with one of the worst macroeconomic environments in its recent history.
Globally, energy consumption, most especially petrol, is an important indicator of the level of economic activities or the degree of internally generated revenue in any country; however, in Africa’s biggest petrol consumption nation, the template is different.
The data seen by BusinessDay expose why Nigeria’s daily consumption of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) – petrol – is currently at an unsustainable level, at 103 million litres per day.
Read Also: Nigeria’s daily petrol consumption hits record high of 93m litres
Petrol barons
The data explain why there are alleged indications that some marketers are loading more petrol than their current distribution capacity.
For example, Matrix Energy, a company with less than 60 filling stations, lifted as high as 123.6 million litres of petrol in June 2021, while Total Nigeria plc, the only international oil company in Nigeria’s downstream sector with an extensive distribution network of over 570 service stations nationwide, lifted 24.3 million litres of petrol same period.
Also, A.A RANO Nigeria Limited with less than 100 filling stations lifted 115.4 million litres of petrol in June, while A.Y.M Shafa Limited, a company with less than 100 filling stations lifted as high as 89.2 million litres of petrol in the same period.
Border states
The industry data also illustrate why there is smuggling across Nigeria’s borders, a development that has resulted in a thriving market for Nigerian petrol in neighbouring countries of Niger Republic, Benin Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Togo and even Ghana, with no direct border with Nigeria.
A state-by-state comparison carried out by BusinessDay reveals Adamawa State, which shares border with Cameroon, consumed 68.8 million litres of petrol for the month of June, while a much commercial Ondo State who boasts of higher Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) per head of N7,165 consumed 59.6 million litres same period.
Another state comparison carried out is between Ogun State, a border state with Benin Republic who also boasts of an IGR per head of N7,140, and Rivers State with an IGR per head of N22,505.
The former recorded an average petrol consumption of 143.8 million litres monthly compared with the latter of 96.3 litres monthly.
Also, Zamfara, which shares a border with Niger Republic, consumed 77.2 million litres compared with a much-industrialised Anambra, who consumed an average of 68.8 million litres in the same period.
Petrol trucks
The industry data also reveal petrol trucks delivered to border states are also higher than states with higher IGR, a development that questions the country’s effort at curbing petrol smuggling to neighbouring countries.
For the month of June 2021, Adamawa State recorded about 1,501 petrol trucks while Abia State, the undeniably pan-African business hub in Nigeria, had 1,026 petrol trucks.
Also, Zamfara, a state sharing border with Niger Republic, had 1,699 petrol trucks while a much-industrialised Anambra recorded 1,218 petrol trucks.
Most stakeholders say the porous Nigerian borders, spanning over 17,000 kilometres, make it possible for this illicit petrol trade to flourish for so long despite deliberate actions by security operatives.
18 states consume same amount of petrol as Lagos
The interesting industry report also reveals 18 Nigerian states consumed the same amount of petrol as Lagos State, a development that further illustrates the uneven petrol consumption in Africa’s biggest oil-producing country.
According to the data, Jigawa, Bauchi, Yobe and 15 other states consumed a combined total of 397.3 million litres per June, which is still less than Lagos’ total consumption of 430 million litres in same month.
For one, due to population explosion and under-utilised waterways, Lagos gridlocked roads ensure that its over 5 million cars and 200,000 commercial vehicles get stuck in the same spot for an average of 30 hours weekly, according to a research by JCDecaux Grace Lake Nigeria, thereby risking commuters to inhale trapped polluted air.
On the average daily, Lagos records an average of 227 vehicles per kilometre of road, more than the national average of about 11. As of Q4 2018, Nigeria had over 11.8 million licensed cars, statistics bureau, National Bureau of Statistic (NBS) said.
Behind Serbia and the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria was the third-highest destination of used light duty vehicles in the world in 2018, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Petrol consumption in five months
Within five months, Nigeria marketers lifted a combined 9.2 billion litres of petrol from various terminals across the country.
“There is no doubt that Nigeria’s present petrol consumption is embarrassing, due to smuggling, which is currently a thriving business,” Mike Osatuyi, national operations controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, told BusinessDay.
Over the years, NNPC’s petrol consumption figure has become so deceitful that even the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) is now openly contesting it as something the corporation uses to rob the federation account of huge sums of money.
Kayode Fayemi, the Ekiti State governor who doubles as NGF chairman, is convinced that NNPC knows those who smuggle petrol to Nigeria’s neighbours and might be collaborating with the saboteurs.
The implication of the above development means Africa’s biggest economy pays more for an opaque subsidy system that is bleeding Nigeria’s economy despite the high level of life-threatening hunger in a country with over 95.9 million people living in extreme poverty.
