Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has raised concerns over the persistence of smuggled petroleum products despite the presence of Customs and security personnels at the country’s borders.
The governor, who spoke on a Channels TV interview monitored by Leadership, wondered how those many million of litres of petrol bandied by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) were being smuggled past the borders without the knowledge of the security personnels.
Recall that the NNPC had announced that about 40 million litres of petroleum was being smuggled out of the country daily.
According to him, those number of litres cannot be loaded on trucks and taken out of the country without the full knowledge and connivance of the managers of the sector, thus validating the claim that they were subsidizing their inefficiency.
On fuel subsidy removal, the governor urged the federal government to make provision for the poorest of the poor who would be most affected by the removal of fuel subsidy.
He noted that while he was not against the plan to subject petrol pump price to market forces, he was worried about the poorest in the country who would be the worst hit by the subsidy removal.
SOURCE: leadership.ng