A recent report of the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS),which puts the total volume of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol imported in 2018 at N2.289 trillion reveals that it is not yet uhuru for Nigeria in terms of in-country refining of petroleum products to meet the needs of its increasing population.
Stakeholders also said the development indicts the incumbent government that promised to change the status quo of huge fuel import by discouraging fuel subsidy and making the nation’s refineries work at optimal level.
The government had shifted the goalpost of revitalising the refineries to next year against the earlier boast of the Minister of state for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, who vowed to quit his job this year if the assets do not work optimally this year.
According to the NBS report, a total of N802.4 billion was imported in the first quarter of the year, N744.28 billion in the second quarter and N742.82 billion recorded in the third quarter of 2018. Read more