The minister of state for petroleum resources (oil), Heineken Lokpobiri has said petrol smuggling from Nigeria to neighbouring countries cannot stop because the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited sells the product below the landing cost.
Mr. Lokpobiri spoke at the recently concluded 2024 energy and labour summit organised by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) in Abuja.
While expanding his standpoint, the minister asserted that “Nigeria plays a very critical role in energy security in Africa”, the reason why whatever PMS is imported into Nigeria finds its way to the whole of West Africa.
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He added that “if NNPC imports PMS and sells to marketers at perhaps N600 or below, there’s no way that petrol smuggling can stop because security agents at the borders are also involved”.
