Mele Kyari says not to blame NNPC for petroleum smuggling

The high incidence of product smuggling across the border has been attributed by the Group Managing Director of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, to petroleum subsidies.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption, Mr Kyari asserted that smuggling and round-tripping would continue as long as subsidies existed.

He said that NNPC Limited is not responsible for the situation.

As long as arbitrage exists, these problems will persist, and since it is a value chain that incorporates everyone and everything, he claimed, it is impossible to hold NNPC responsible for them.

He also disclosed that some who oppose the changes brought forth by the Petroleum Industry Act had threatened his life.

I have received multiple death threats, so I can confirm that there is a threat to life, but we are unconcerned about it since we think that no one should pass away until it is their time.

But this is the price of change; when people switch from what they are accustomed to something novel that will deprive them of value and advantage, they will respond, the speaker said.