By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has released the figure of what it says is the daily consumption of premium motor spirit (PMS) otherwise known as fuel, contradicting a figure recently released by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
While NMDPRA says Nigeria’s daily consumption of fuel is estimated to stand at 66.8 million litres, NNPC Ltd claims Nigeria consumes 68 million litres daily.
In a statement on Friday, the NMDPRA which had earlier provided 62.9 million litres as daily consumption, clarified that this figure was used in 2021 to forecast the expected revenue for 2022 and did not translate to actual trucked-out volume this year.
Adebayo Adeniyi, NMDPRA’s head of Finance and Account had during his appearance before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on Monday pointed out that 62.9 million litres was the actual “daily truck out”.
“The authority, during a recent interactive session with the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, quoted 62.9 million litres as the 2022 baseline daily truck out projection,” the statement read in part.
The Nigeria Customs Service had also faulted NNPC’s decision to release 98 million litres daily even when it claims the country consumes 68 million litres of petrol daily.
The varying figures have however raised concern in the minds of stakeholders on the actual amount expended on petrol subsidy by the government, raising questions of transparency.
NMDPRA further stated, “For clarity, the figure provided was used in 2021 solely to forecast the expected revenue for 2022 and does not in any way translate to the actual truck out volume for this year.
“In line with the NMDPRA mandate as provided in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to ensure transparency in the oil and gas industry, the Authority publishes on its website (www.nmdpra.gov.ng/daily-truck out) the actual daily truck out.
“As can be verified from the website, the actual daily truck out from 1st January 2022 to 31st July 2022 stands at 66.89 million litres.
“The authority assures the general public that it is committed to providing credible and transparent data on the supply and distribution of petroleum products.”
