From Uche Usim, Abuja

With the Nigerian economy currently at a tipping point, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the agencies under it and other relevant stakeholders are set to interrogate the daily petrol consumption figure of 68 million litres as investigations suggest the numbers may be inflated.

The move, Daily Sun learnt, is non-punitive but solely driven by the need to cut back on what the government spends to subsidise the product, so the more funds are freed and injected into vital areas yearning for liquidity.

Sources privy to the planned meeting said there is sufficient reason to believe that the daily PMS consumption figure should not be more than 35 million litres because some firms have independently investigated the matter.

One of the sources said: “The meeting would be an extended stakeholders’ meeting involving players in the petrol supply chain. 

“From the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, to the Nigerian Upstream Petroluem Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and others, they will be present at the meeting because the FG really wants to contain this massive hemorrhage wrapped around PMS consumption. The country is bleeding and the economy is heavily strained. We can’t fold our hands and feign helplessness when the country is heavily bleeding. Let’s interrogate the numbers. It would help in proper planning and budgeting for anything concerning petrol consumption.

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“We know it’s a delicate matter but saving the economy is a more serious issue. We’re aware that past efforts to stray into this contentious area were heavily resisted by vested interests benefitting from this horror. But we’re now at a stage where we must take decisive actions to save the country and no one is being targeted. We’re not scapegoating. It’s just a mission to rescue a ship in a storm. Our resources are lean and we must not encourage waste and fraud. Recall that NNPC has not remitted to FAAC in a long while and states are worried. Many areas need funding and so we must plug the leakages.”

For years, relevant agencies that should feed the public about daily petrol consumption have shied away from it, leaving room for speculation.

Last month, the NMDPRA said Nigeria consumes 66.8 million litres of petrol daily.

However, its figure is at variance  with 68 million litres, being the position of the NNPC on the issue.

The different figures by the petroleum ministry and agencies are impeding the credibility claims of the government that it runs a transparent subsidy regime.

Meanwhile, despit assurances from relevant federal authorities that the  petrol scarcity in Abuja and environs would soon be over, the exact opposite is playing out as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has faced disrupted business activities for months running. Worse, the Kogi floods, which was the initial excuse for the scarcity, seems no longer tenable as the waters have receded for the tankers to pass.