Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), has stated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited must sell imported fuel above the landing cost to effectively combat smuggling activities.
He made this assertion during the 2024 Energy and Labour Summit in Abuja, where he also criticized security agencies for their role in aiding smuggling.
Lokpobiri explained that as long as NNPC imports fuel and sells it below the landing cost, smugglers will continue to exploit the situation.
“If NNPC imports PMS and sells to marketers at perhaps N600 or below, smuggling will not stop,” Lokpobiri noted. “When smugglers transport these products out of the country, even if you put all the policemen on the road, they are Nigerians; we all know how that turns out.”
The minister further emphasized that smuggling of fuel from Nigeria to neighboring countries is a long-standing issue that is unlikely to be fully eradicated.
He also pointed out that NNPC lacks the financial resources to rebuild the country’s deteriorating pipeline infrastructure, which has been a major cause of economic sabotage through vandalism and crude oil theft. He highlighted that many of these pipelines, which date back to the 1960s and 1970s, are corroded and easy targets for vandals.
“The reason pipeline vandalism is so easy is that the pipelines are outdated and completely corroded, making it simple for anyone to tamper with them,” Lokpobiri explained. “Transporting oil to terminals is challenging due to the deteriorated state of the pipelines.”
To address these infrastructure issues, Lokpobiri advocated for a public-private partnership approach, suggesting that private sector involvement is crucial.
“This is why we need to adopt a global model—public-private partnership (PPP). We must involve the private sector,” he added.
