Uche Usim, Abuja
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) yesterday disclosed that the volume of premium motor spirit (petrol) consumed daily in Nigeria has dropped from 61 million litres to about 50.22 million litres.
The agency attributed the decrease in consumption volume to the ongoing military operations at various land borders aimed at checking smuggling, arms proliferation, banditry and other crimes.
The Spokesman of PPPRA, Kimchi Apollo, in a statement explained that the daily truck out of petrol from various depots had remained on the downward curve since the government partially closed the borders over a month ago.
“Records from various depots nationwide for August 5 to 11, 2019 stood at about 61 million litres, representing the average daily volume trucked out before the border closure”, he said.
His words: “The agency observed (from the data obtained between 12 and 18 August 2019) a drop of about 35 per cent in volume trucked out from the previous week which could be attributed to the reduction of activities at various facilities during the Sallah holidays.
“However, from the 19th to 25th August 2019, which falls within the period in which the borders were partially closed, the agency recorded an average daily truck out figure of about 57 million litres which falls below the daily average figure for the week 5th to 11th August 2019.