Cameroon, Mali depend on smuggled PMS from Nigeria — NNPC Limited

NNPC Limited has said some West African and Central African countries including Cameroon and Mali have stopped importing petroleum products and depend solely on smuggled products from Nigeria.

Umar Ajia, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of NNPC Limited, revealed this on Monday while speaking before an ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives investigating fuel subsidy.

The CFO said most countries surrounding Nigeria now fully depend on the subsidy from Nigeria to sustain.

He disclosed that the smuggling of petroleum products is so easy because of the porous borders and anyone with N5 million can make the cross.

“If you have five million naira, you can cross the borders with trucks laden with PMS, that is the bitter truth, we have porous borders; yes we have Customs but I do not know.

“PMS crosses everywhere, to Cameroon through the North East, Nigerian PMS gets to Mali; our neighbouring countries hardly import PMS; infact, some of them do not have the LC cover to back up imports.

“Cameroon refinery got burnt sometime last year or so, since that time, they have not imported PMS, but they are still using PMS; if you go to Niger, you find that PMS is sold in bottles.”