Energy Expert, Dr Yussif Sulemana, has stated that the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), should closely monitor the operations of Strategic Mobilization Ghana Ltd (SML), to ensure its operations are not compromised.

He said the over GHc1bn revenue raised as a result of digital monitoring of petroleum products is a welcoming news and must be commended.

In an interview with GhanaWeb’s Amos Ekow Coffie, Dr Sulemana said the country should not be reluctant but rather do more to rope in extra revenue to develop the sector.

“This development is welcoming news to the nation as a whole if you monitor closely most of these CSO’s and experts who have kicked against increment on taxes after the budget was read, yet if taxes are increased to the extent that people are not able to bear that, I think it will be counterproductive. An indigenous Ghanaian firm has become so innovative to come out with such a state of the art technology to be able to monitor and real-time product inventory is commendable,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s first digital project to monitor petroleum products lifted from depots across the country has recorded over GH¢600 million more revenue in six months than the same period the year before.

The achievement follows the implementation of the digitization programme rolled out by the government in June last year.

The monitoring system, being implemented by a private digital assurance firm, Strategic Mobilization Ghana Ltd (SML), recorded a GH¢744.73-million increment in the value of products lifted between June and December last year, compared to the GH¢133.23 million recorded between the same period in 2019 before the digital monitoring system was deployed.

In the first three months of this year alone, the digital monitoring system recorded GH¢333.67 million positive variances in products lifted, more than twice what was recorded in six months (June to December) 2019.

Listen to the full interview below;