Several filling stations in some communities in the Yewa area of Ogun State have been found to aid smuggling of petroleum products to the Republic of Benin.

The communities include Madoga, Iledu and Ilagbe villages of Ipokia Local Government Area in the state.

Madoga, a small community with about 2,000 inhabitants, is the closest of the three settlements to the borders of Republic of Benin and has the highest concentration of these filling stations.


 
The settlers, who live in mud houses and huts and are predominantly from the Republic of Benin, engage in ferrying goods and people across borders on motorcycles.

Several routes have been created by smugglers to evade the prying eyes of the security personnel on the major checkpoints.

Our correspondent, who was at Madoga, observed as several 33,000 litre petrol tankers moved fuel out of the country.

A resident, Mr. Daniel (not real name), who spoke with our correspondent, said the activity has been on for many years and that many of the fuel stations in the area, were purposely built there because of the ease of smuggling fuel to Benin Republic.

He said, “Over a hundred of these stations are here as you would have seen while coming in. But don’t be deceived by their looks.

“The stations may look small and be overgrown with weeds; their dispensing machines may look bad, but each of them sells a truckload of fuel daily.”

Our correspondent observed as motorcycles loaded with empty kegs move from station to station in search of fuel.

Asked how the stations run the business, another resident identified simply as Mr. Kolawole, said that when business was good, about ten filling stations sold fuel during the day while others waited for their turn to come.

He continued, “Each of the ten filling stations sells its truck content within a day but now three stations are allowed to dispense fuel in a day.

“Then they wait till another day for another group of three to sell too. If any of them wants to sell again within that month, they would have to settle the people at the top.”

Asked how cheap the product is in the area, he said it’s not the same price as obtainable in Lagos or in Owode in Ogun State.

He said, “We buy at N100 per litre at Ilashe, and here in Madoga, it’s sold for between N120 and N130 per litre. A smuggler buys as much as N80,000 worth of fuel on a trip with the motorcycle for onward delivery into Ifangni, Igolo and Cotonou in Benin Republic.

“It’s sold in bottles there, so they buy kegs and pour it into bottles. Fuel is moved by these smugglers daily except on Fridays.”

At Ifonyintedo lies a Nigerian Customs Service Barracks which is about five kilometres to Madoga. It is observed that the activities of the smugglers are left unchecked as many of these smugglers ride into the community, buy the product and ride out without being challenged.

Our correspondent tried to take a ride out of the Nigerian territory into the Republic of Benin and observed that even though there were police/customs posts, he did not see any security official till he got into Igolo town which overlooks the border gates.

Another resident said that immigration and customs officers do get returns from the business.

He said, “You know that no heavy duty vehicles can come in here without the knowledge of the customs officials so they bribe them. The fact that Madoga and the adjoining villages are few minutes away from the Republic of Benin makes it easier for the business to thrive.”

However, when contacted, the Deputy Director, Communications, Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. George Ene-Ita, told Saturday PUNCH that even though the agency had not been fully briefed of the development, it would clamp down on such filling stations.

Ene-Ita added, “That would be a clear case of violation of our regulations. That would be a case of diversion of products and economic sabotage. Once we can establish this, the first step is to revoke their licences and impose sanctions on them. The fine payable is dependent on the gravity of the case and the volume of the product, but we will surely go after them as soon as we have enough information on this.”