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HomeNewsEconomy30% fuel supplied diverted to neighbouring countries - Kachikwu

30% fuel supplied diverted to neighbouring countries – Kachikwu

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, yesterday disclosed that 30 per cent of fuel trucks supplied by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) are being diverted to neighbouring countries.

Speaking at the commemoration of one year anniversary of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari which kicked off yesterday in Lagos with a Town Hall Meeting that had five other ministers in attendance, Kachikwu, who doubles as Group Managing Director of NNPC, said the era of fuel subsidy was over in the country. His words: “Sadly, for the short term measures that we put in place, over 30 per cent of what are supplied into the country are diverted.

For example, in the last five days, we have pumped 400 trucks of products into Lagos State. The total consumption of Lagos at the maximum is 250 trucks. Most of those trucks are diverted from Lagos. They moved from here and cross the border to Benin Republic, Chad, Cameroon, among others.

We need, literally, a whole army to stop this from happening. So, I continue to supply and over-supply and so we struggle. “There is need for vigilance because most of our trucks don’t have trackers and we are looking at intelligence solution.

We started publishing deliveries and telling you the filling stations they were allocated to, so if you don’t find products in those filling stations, there are hotlines to call and for police to report.” Kachikwu said pipelines and refineries, including the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries, had been revived, while the Kaduna refinery would begin to work in a week. “The Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP), which was the Offshore Processing Arrangement (OPA) which we reviewed, has saved us over $1 billion.

“Payment of subsidies, which last year was over N1 trillion had been reduced to zero – except in April, which was prepared for because of over-recovery,” he said. He noted that the average loss of NNPC, which was about N300 billion per month, has been reduced to about N3 billion as of January 2016.

Moderated by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the ministers used the occasion to review the key policy programmes of the administration within the context of the current plight and expectation of Nigerians.

Other ministers present at the Town Hall meeting, the first in the series to be held across the six geo-political zones of the country, were Ministers of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; Foreign Affairs, Mr. Godfrey Onyema; Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi and Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Okechukwu Enelamah Aside using the occasion to give the scorecards of their respective ministries, the cabinet members also used the event that was attended by different class of people to plead for patience with government in the light of the current hardships in the country.

Speaking on the essence of the interactive gathering, Mohammed said the event was not a fix-it measure, but an opportunity for Nigerians to air their views on the process of governance and to also create opportunity for those in authority to meet the populace directly.

“We have squarely taken on the issue of corruption and this administration has zero tolerance for graft. We are not out to vilify anyone but to put paid to corruption. Between 2006 and 2013, just 55 people stole N1.3 trillion,” Mohammed said.

Enelamah, the Minister of Trade and Industry, noted that the country need to create long term institutions, stating that the Federal Government has commenced the reactivation of Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) in order to reposition industries in the country.

Speaking on the gains of the recent agreements signed by Nigeriawith China, the minister said the agreements will be deliberately monitored. “China is Nigeria’s largest trading partner, you know. Over 40 per cent of  our imports are from China, and it represents over $15 billion.

“The Nigerian government also acknowledges that there’s much Nigeria can learn from China. For example, we view with admiration, what China has accomplished by lifting hundreds of millions of its people out of poverty over the cause of just one generation.

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“It has been said that it takes only one committed generation to rebuild a country, why can’t it be this generation? China has done it; Nigeria can do it.” Summarising the problem of power supply in the country, Fashola said:

“I will summarise the power issue simply in one word; there is no enough power. Five thousand megawatts for 170 million people is just not enough. The solution is delivering more power on an incremental and sustained basis.”

Speaking on the lull in the activity of the Ministry of Works, the former governor of Lagos State said the ministry cannot spend any money until the 2016 budget is passed. “There’s a plan to deal with the road challenge, but unfortunately as I speak, there is no budget.

“Those of us that are tuned to public service will understand that budget is the article of faith, without appropriation, you can’t spend money,” he said. Fashola, who noted that the government has not delivered some results but will still do so, stressed that housing is his most difficult responsibility.

He said that the challenges of the sector were enormous. “The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing proposed N423 billion at the Federal Executive Council and the information reaching us is that we are not going to get all that.

“On-going road projects alone awarded by the government before we came – about 266 roads awarded in the various states – the liability to complete them is about N2 trillion,” he said. On his part, Onyema, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, noted that the government had predicated its foreign policy outlook on the three focal points of the administration, namely, security, anti-corruption and economy.

His words: “The trips of the president outside Nigeria are not just selected on a random basis; they are carefully selected to fit into the priority of government. President Buhari has enormous goodwill and his assumption of office captured the foreign countries. They are falling over to host him.

“When the president assumed office, the problem at that time was how to get the confidence of neighbouring countries to support the war on terror. “So, what the president did was to travel to Chad, Cameroon and other neighbouring countries to seek a joint coalition, and now we can all see the results the country is recording against Boko Haram.” Amaechi noted that the construction of the various proposed rail lines will create jobs for Nigerians across the divide.

The minister said the government is working extremely hard to ensure that the uncompleted Kaduna to Abuja rail line works between June and July. He said work will commence on the Lagos-Kano rail line before the end of the year. On aviation, the former Rivers State governor explained that new terminals are being constructed at some airports, adding that the government has scaled up regulatory and safety measures in the airports.

Also present at the gathering are the representatives of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Non Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASSU), National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), secondary school students, leaders of market associations and artisans among others.

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