The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited should be disbanded and unbundled, Sanusi Lamidi Sanusi, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.
During his keynote speech at the Kaduna investment programme titled, ‘Building a resilient economy,’ in Kaduna, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said the 66 million litres of petrol quoted by the state oil company is not factual.
“Are we drinking the petrol?” he said. “We are consuming more than Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire on a per capita basis.”
“In Nigeria, we are consuming almost six litres a day per vehicle, more than Iran. Iran is three to four times as rich as Nigeria on a per capita income basis,” said Sanusi.
Data from the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) shows that 74.9 million litres of petrol was distributed across Nigeria on October 12, 2022.
Lagos, Kano, and Niger had the highest truck-out with 8.14 million, 4.51 million and 4.33 million litres of petrol respectively.
Sanusi said states that are on the western border with West Africa seem to be having more than other states.
“By state we find that there are certain patterns which indicate that a lot of smuggling is happening across the border,” Sanusi said.
“We are not really importing for Nigeria, but for other countries.”
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He further pressed that an indigenous oil marketer, according to the official numbers, is lifting 129 trucks daily.
“This is how we have eroded our own economy. A one man business is lifting more trucks than total Nigeria,” he said.
“We have to recognise that NNPC is not a cash cow. It’s a money pit,” he said. “Just unbundle it, disband it, continue to implement the PIA properly and turn them into a properly commercial.”
On the other hand, Sanusi blamed the lack of revenue in the country on what he called the subsidy free-for-all.
“The incoming president of Nigeria will have a toll to overcome in order to reshape the economy of the country. I am sorry for the next president who comes in on May and says I’m removing subsidy on day one.
“We have not even started retracing our steps, closing this gap in exchange rates, closing the gap in these inflated subsidies,” he said. “Reducing the subsidy payments we’re going to pile up while we are spending 108 percent of our revenue on debt service.”
Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget, and national planning, said months ago that the Federal Government planned to spend N6.7 trillion on petrol subsidy payments in 2023.
However, while presenting a N20.51 trillion 2023 budget proposal to the National Assembly last Friday, Buhari pushed for the removal of fuel subsidies in 2023, claiming that the policy was unsustainable given the current economic realities.
