The House of Representatives ad hoc fuel consumption committee has begun assessing the volume of petroleum products consumed in the country daily.

Its chairman, Uzoma Abonta, led other committee members on an oversight visit to tank farms in Calabar.

The lawmakers were conducted round the farms by George Ene-Ita, regional coordinator of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, South-South regional office, Calabar.

Mr Abonta said because of the current debate on whether fuel subsidy should be removed or not, the house of representatives set up a committee to ascertain the product consumption in Nigeria.

According to him, the committee’s report will be used by the house as an indicator to perfect the issues surrounding the subsidy.

“We are trying to find out the volume of product being consumed in the country daily. This report will be used by the House of Representatives as an indicator to perfect other issues,” Mr Abonta explained. “Subsidy has become a topical issue that has bedevilled Nigeria for a long while, and you cannot get or calculate subsidy without knowing the actual volume. At the end of the exercise, if we get it right, the house of representatives will be in a better position to direct or properly place this issue of subsidy or to do otherwise.”

The lawmaker added that from “what the Nigeria Customs Service had told us about products getting into our neighbouring countries, if that is true, then it is not part of what we claim we consume.”

He noted that part of the committee’s mandate was also to determine the exact volume of product brought into the country.

“For now, we are on a mission to find out the volume of product being brought into the country, and in doing that, we need to take comparative and quantitative data from all the depots,” said Mr Abonta. “After that, we can then analyse our consumption on a monthly or yearly basis; then we can place it side by side with the subsidy paid out.”

He added, “There has been so much controversy on the issue of subsidy; especially on who paid what, who got what, and the issue of value.”

Some tank farms visited included Northwest Petroleum, Ammasco Petrochemicals Company, Mainland Oil and Gas, Alkanes, Sobaz, Ibafon and Blokks.

(NAN)