Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Mal. Nuhu Ribadu, announced on Wednesday that the removal of the country’s fuel subsidy under President Bola Tinubu’s administration has effectively put an end to fuel smuggling across the nation.
Speaking at the ongoing Comptroller General of Customs conference in Abuja, Ribadu emphasized that only a small fraction of Nigerians had been benefiting from the subsidy, while neighbouring countries were receiving the bulk of subsidized fuel due to rampant smuggling in border regions.
Ribadu explained that, prior to the subsidy removal, Nigeria had been unintentionally subsidizing fuel consumption in neighboring countries due to smuggling activities at border communities. With the subsidy now removed, he stated, the illegal cross-border trade in fuel has significantly diminished, benefiting Nigeria’s economy and curbing the flow of subsidized fuel to other nations.
“I am from a border community and everyday I keep getting calls about how Customs are making life difficult for smugglers. Surprisingly, the people aiding them also include the military but now everything is in the past as all those generals and security forces enabling fuel smugglers have been taken away and replaced by a new team.
“Similarly, the subsidy that all of us are talking about that has brought NNPC to its knees was only serving neighbouring countries and not even Nigerians. We were subsidising Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Benin Republic, Ghana and the smart Nigerians who called themselves oil marketers,” he said.
Ribadu, further explained that the large number of oil marketers in Nigeria was a direct result of the subsidy regime, as many marketers were benefiting from the policy.
He noted that the subsidy created an environment where these marketers were able to profit from the artificially low fuel prices, which encouraged their proliferation.
With the subsidy now removed, Ribadu indicated that the number of oil marketers would likely shrink, as the removal of these benefits would eliminate the incentives that once supported their operations.
“Nigeria is the only country in the world where everyone is an oil marketer because of subsidies. You can count about 100 filling stations from Abuja to Kaduna alone. However, the welfare we have given them is over and the business of smuggling fuel across the border has also ended,” he added.
He also highlighted that recent initiatives by the Customs, particularly Operation Whirlwind, aimed at curbing smuggling, have delivered significant results, along with other efforts to strengthen border control and reduce illegal fuel trade.
