The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has given a new figure of what is says is the amount of petrol distributed across the country daily. The agency said Nigeria consumes 66.8 million litres of petrol daily, not 62.9 million it earlier quoted. Both the previous figure and the new one contradict the quantity announced by the state-oil company, NNPC Limited, as the volume consumed in the country. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited had last Sunday insisted that the country consumes 68 million litres of petrol daily. Its response came after the Nigeria Customs Service said the NNPC released 98 million litres daily even when it previously claimed the country consumed 60 million litres of petrol daily.
The varying figures provided by different agencies of government have left many Nigerians concerned by the transparency over the management of the government’s fuel subsidy programme.
The NMDPRA’s first figure was released by the agency’s head of finance and account, Adebayo Adeniyi, while appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on Monday. He said 62.9 million litres was the actual “daily truck out”.
In a statement on Friday, the NMDPRA said the earlier figure provided was used in 2021 to forecast the expected revenue for 2022 and did not translate to actual trucked-out volume this year.
“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 said.
“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,” the statement said.
