The Federal Government yesterday unveiled plans to privatise
the country’s petroleum products pipeline chain. Minister of State for
Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, stated this while on a tour of
petroleum products depots in Apapa, Lagos.
Kachikwu who said the move to privatise
the pipelines was part of efforts aimed at reducing the issue of
petroleum products theft, noted that it will also address the challenge
of constant vandalism.
“Ultimately, we are going to look at
pipelines early next year in January to see how we can privatise the
management of these pipelines and get them out of these perennial
problems they have because if we are pumping directly through these
pipelines, some of these problems will be reduced. But like I said, all
these problems added are not as big as the problems of the fact that the
major participants are not bringing products,’’ he said.
On hoarding and products scarcity, the
Minister who also doubles as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), urged marketers and depot owners to collaborate
with the Federal Government to end the scarcity, adding that the
Corporation has enough stock to last beyond December while some cargoes
are expected in December.
He, however, warned Nigerians to desist
from panic buying while appealing to marketers and depot owners not to
sell products above the official depot price of N 77.66 per litre.
Kachikwu equally assured Nigerians that
the current fuel scarcity will not roll over to the yuletide just as
Nipco Plc restated its commitment to ship in more cargoes to augment
supplies from the NNPC.
Recall that Nipco had, few days ago,
imported 37 million litres of petrol when most marketers refused to
import owing to the outstanding subsidy claims of over N413 billion.
Acknowledging the support of Nipco, especially with its commencement of product imports, Kachikwu implored other
marketers to follow suit as all pending obligations to them in respect
of subsidy claims, and other commitments would be settled soon.
The Minister commended the efforts of
Nipco as a Nigerian investment sitting on a Nigerian soil, adding “we
need to rally round the company and support it in the overall interest
of the nation and its populace.”
Earlier in his address, Managing
Director, Nipco, Mr. Venkataraman Venkatapathy, said the company had
remained an ally of government in ensuring product availability across
the country through its depot operations and branded stations and
independent marketer’s outlets that load at its terminal.
He noted that pricing of petroleum
products at its depot have always been at the government approved depot
rate, adding that concerted efforts are also being made to ensure that
only registered marketers with verifiable outlets load in the company.
Venkatapathy, however, implored
government to look into the area of gas especially in the realm of
Compressed Natural Gas as vehicular fuel as such feat will save the
nation and the citizenry hiccups always experienced in the importation
of liquid fuels.
The depots visited include NIPCO, Folawiyo, MRS and Capital Oil depots, all in Lagos State.
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