On Wednesday, the Nigerian Customs Service declared that it will not think twice about continuing to combat the illicit operations of petroleum product traffickers. The comments were made by Khamal Mohammed, the area controller for Sokoto/Zamfara Area command, at the public auction of 55,164 litres of PMS, which was held at the customs house in Sokoto and cost N180 per litre.
He declared that the illegal PMS smuggling business would be forced out of smugglers by the Nigeria Customs Service. As you may remember, the Sokoto/Zamfara area command’s operation Whirlwind intercepted 11,270 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), which were put up for sale by the area command.
According to him, the command has noticed that smugglers’ operations have continued to inflate the fake scarcity in some regions of the nation and put more strain on the limited foreign exchange that the nation needs to purchase the goods. He said that the outdoor exercise that was conducted complied with current legislation and had the consent of the Comptroller General of the Service at the Sokoto headquarters of Area Command.
He swore, “The service is equal to the task of making them uncomfortable within the Area of its jurisdiction if they continue unabated with the illegitimate activities.” He said that the breakthrough in seizures at the time I was writing this review was the result of a more intense crackdown on product smugglers.
He said, “All seized petroleum product were coordinated by the intelligence driven tactical team code named operation Whirlwind which made a seizure of 28,116Liters while the Sokoto/Zamfara Area Command patrol teams made a seizure of 23,030Liters of PMS. The patriotic effort of officers and men led to the seizure of 55,164liters of PMS with a duty paid value (DPV) of N38,669,964.00 within the period under review.
Nonetheless, the Area Controller pointed out that Nigeria continues to be one of the nations with the least expensive Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) even after the subsidies were removed. “In the country, PMS is sold for an average of N701.99k per litre, whereas in Cameroon, Mali, and the Republic of Benin, it is sold for N2,061.55k, N2,128.20k, and N1,672.05k,” he stated.
In addition, Muhammad provided an explanation of the product’s comparative cost, stating that the product’s price differential between Nigeria and other West African countries was the reason for its smuggling, noting that “smugglers find it easy to make money because it fetches them two or three times its domestic price.” The Area Controller gave his word that the agency would keep up its committed, fair, and honest defence of the nation’s economic interests.
