Despite Nigeria’s full deregulation of the petroleum sector, the smuggling of petrol to neighboring countries persists, according to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
The NCS has recently intercepted significant quantities of smuggled petrol, valued at millions of naira, as part of its “Operation Whirlwind” aimed at combating fuel smuggling.
With the increase in the interception of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol on the verge of being smuggled out of the country through the border communities to neighbouring Benin Republic, Togo, and Chad among others, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), has said the service won’t lift Ban on supply of Petrol to border communities.
LEADERSHIP reports that the comptroller general of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, has said that the Seme-Badagry corridor contributes 35 per cent of smuggled Petrol while Ogun through the Imeko-Afon; Ilaro-Ojodan and Owode-Ajilete axis contribute 65 per cent to smuggling in the South West.
The service had Intercepted 273,670 litres of Petrol across the country in the last three months.
Experts have attributed the ongoing smuggling to substantial price disparities across regional borders. Petrol in Nigeria remains cheaper than in neighboring countries like Benin and Ghana, creating a lucrative black market that undermines Nigeria’s economic interests.
For instance, in Ghana, petrol is priced at approximately $1.02 per liter as of February 2025. In contrast, Nigeria’s petrol price is around $0.763 per litre.
In Togo, the price of octane-95 gasoline is approximately 680 CFA Francs per liter, which is about $1.092
Other neighboring countries like Benin and Cameroon do not have specific prices listed in the available data, but generally, prices in these regions tend to be higher than in Nigeria, contributing to the smuggling issue.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP, the Customs CG said that with the increasing number of seizures across the country, many petroleum marketers at the border communities are still channelling petroleum products to the wrong channels.
The CGC stressed further that the number of retail outlets at the border stations outweighs the population and economic activities in the various communities.
“I’ve applied to the office of the national security advisor for a review and some of them have been granted positively while some have been denied.
So the situation is still very fluid, and from what we have seen, especially with the number of seizures, it is still obvious that we still have so many marketers that will collect these products and channel them into the wrong destinations.
“We have a number of trucks that are under our custody as we speak that are still under investigation. I mean if a truck is assigned to go to destination A and then we suddenly find it in destination C or along the road to destination C, we must ask some questions.
“Sometimes, they tell us the road around B is bad. That was the reason they took a detour and things like that. Some of the explanations are possible, and in some cases, the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) will advise us to release those trucks, but in some cases, we have discovered that they were all out to smuggle, and that’s why we got seizures like this.”
The Customs boss stated that until there is a drastic reduction in smuggling, the ban will subsist.
“So, it is a fluid situation, and until smuggling activities and smuggling of PMS reduces, I’m afraid, we might have to insist that certain retail outlets remain closed.
If you go to some border stations in Nigeria, you will see a number of retail outlets, and you will discover that the population and the economic activities in these places do not match the number of fuel stations and the volume of trucks that are going there.
“So, it is highly suspicious that some of this might be targeting smuggling across the country. So we will continue to monitor those situations, and if there are legitimate concerns expressed by some border communities, such concerns will be addressed, and we will allow them to have access to work,” the CG stated.
Adeniyi reiterated that the special operation for combating fuel smuggling was initially for 3 months but has to continue due to continued reoccurrence.
“When we started with the operational order, it was meant to be for only three months, but we have discovered that the situation is not, has not abated.
“And this is a national, this is a critical national resource that we cannot afford to allow to continue. For us, it is not about who does it. It is not about the rank of the officer who does it.
“For us, it’s about combating, addressing that issue decisively. If leading that operation by myself, the Comptroller General will help us to address it, I am ready to lead it. So it is not about the rank of the officer who leads it.
“It’s not about; it is about getting a solution to an endemic problem. So we will monitor the situation. It’s a very expensive operation and I’m happy you mentioned the fact that it is three months.
“It’s very, very expensive for us to conduct, but it is worth every penny, every resource that we’re spending on it. The duration of this interception is about two weeks.
“The last two weeks. We are still engaging them. In the report that I rendered, we have discovered that in some communities, their facilities are used to store this before they move them out.
“And we are engaging such communities to ensure that, you know, they do not cooperate with oil smugglers. And, of course, in Adamawa, we are currently prosecuting two people arrested in connection with smuggling. And we will not hesitate to do that if we see members of communities identifying with PMS smugglers.”
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