Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, on Saturday, 17th October, 2022, queried the volume of Nigeria’s daily consumption of petrol claimed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
Sanusi described the claim by the NNPC Limited that Nigeria consumes 66 million litres of fuel daily as unbelievable, and wants the NNPC disbanded.
“Are we drinking the petrol?” the former Emir queried when he delivered a keynote speech at the seventh edition of an annual event organized by the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency, KadInvest.
Sanusi demanded that the NNPC be unbundled and disbanded, noting that the company should not continue as a cash cow for a few Nigerians, and blamed the lack of revenue in the country on what he called the subsidy free-for-all.
“NNPC tells us officially that we are consuming 66 million litres per day…We are consuming more than Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire and others”, Sanusi asked.
According to the former governor; “In 2019 officially, we were importing 40 million litres per day. In 2022, officially, we are importing 66 million per day. In three years, we have increased our petrol consumption by 50%. Please tell me, is it the population? Is it the number of cars? Just ask yourself if it makes sense that in three years you increase your consumption of petrol by 50%”.
Sanusi added that Nigeria has continued to be a rentier state, which he said It does not exist for development but as a sight of rent, and extraction to make those who control the state rich to turn them into billionaires overnight.
“Nigeria can’t keep pushing the brink but must come back and address the issues at hand so that future generation won’t suffer”, he noted.
Story: Asma’u Sani