50% drop in PMS usage validates cross-border smuggling

The once-thriving petrol black market in West Africa has been topsy-turvy lately after Nigeria adopted full deregulation in the downstream sector. The deregulation has upended an informal sector that is central to the region’s economic activity, cutting petrol consumption in Nigeria by 50 percent. For decades, Nigeria's heavily subsidised petrol prices have oiled the wheels of smuggling in the West African region. Traders from neighboring countries such as Ghana, Benin, and Togo would flock to Nigeria to purchase petrol at a fraction o