Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, has said Nigeria is losing billions of naira to fuel smuggling epidemic.
Adeniyi disclosed this during a press briefing in Yola, Adamawa State capital, on Monda.
He said illicit trade fueled by a significant price disparity between Nigeria and its neighbors, has reached crisis proportion.
“The situation is dire… Smugglers are exploiting the price difference to reap huge profits, depriving the nation of much-needed revenue,” he said.
He said to check the menace, Customs launched Operation Whirlwind, seizing over 150,950 liters of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) valued at N105.9 million in just two weeks.
However, he acknowledged that the seizure was a fraction of the illegal trade’s estimated billions.
“The consequences of inaction are severe,” Adeniyi warned.
“If left unchecked, this epidemic will further deplete our foreign exchange reserves, exacerbate economic challenges, and fund illegitimate activities.”
The Customs boss vowed to stem the tide of the illegal trade and restore sanity to the nation’s fuel sector.