By Our Correspondent
Acting Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Wale Adeniyi, says Nigeria’s fuel is still being smuggled out persistently despite the removal of subsidy.
Adeniyi said this while speaking with State House correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, on Tuesday, in Abuja.
He said it would take time to completely eradicate the menace. The Customs boss also clarified that only six of the shut land borders had been reopened.
He noted that some border areas had reported seizures of fuel. “The rate of smuggling has, however, reduced considerably,” Adeniyi said.
He expressed the hope that ongoing policies being implemented by the current administration would completely eliminate fuel smuggling across borders.
“Sometimes we just want to assume that because of the subsidy, the problem will evaporate one day.
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“The sense I was trying to create was that it might take some time before the issue of smuggling of fuel across the border will completely dissipate.
“So, in some border areas, we had reports of seizures of fuel and that is what we heard.
“The assumption generally is that because the fuel is now sold at N500 per litre, it will be a disincentive for smuggling.
“Contrary to that, we have seen that they are smuggling it across the borders.
“The rate at which this is being smuggled has reduced considerably,” Adeniyi said.
He was hopeful that by the time policies of the new government begin working, fuel smuggling will be completely eliminated.
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