Subsidy: National Assembly visits Cross River to ascertain volume of fuel consumption in Nigeria

The House of Representatives adhoc Committee on Fuel Consumption is on a mission to discover volume of fuel consumption in Nigeria.

Chairman of the committee, Uzoma Abonta, alongside his team, disclosed this to newsmen in Cross River State, yesterday, during an inspection visit to tank farms at the Calabar Export Processing Zone.

Abonta said the mission was to unravel the subsidy challenge facing the country and put to rest what he described as “exaggerated” smuggling of petroleum products to neighbouring countries.

He said: “This special committee is trying to find out the volume of consumption of products in country. We are here trying to discover or ascertain the product consumption daily, for the House to use as an indicator to calculate other issues.

“This topical issue called subsidy has bedeviled Nigeria for a long while, and you cannot calculate subsidy without knowing the quantity or quality of fuel consumed.

“From there, you can calculate that. So, if we get it right, what we are looking for, the House will be in a better position to redirect or properly place this issue of subsidy or do otherwise.”

Abonta added: “To continue or not is something that we are all discussing because we hear a lot of exaggerated things, like our products getting into neighbouring countries, from what customs told us, that they arrested a lot of tankers trying to cross the borders.

“The only way to find out is take comparative and competitive data of all the depots. Then, we will be able to analyse and say, in such and such months or years, this was what we were able to consume, and then place it side by side with the so-called subsidy.

“I am sure you know the controversy in subsidy. I’m sure you know the controversy, even in the actuals: who paid what, who got what and what’s the real value? This is part of why we are here, sent by the House to discover it here in Cross River.”