THIS SENATE:
AWARE that the Downstream Sector of the Petroleum Industry is concerned with the supply and distribution of petroleum products to Government and Private Depots and Tank Farms from which the products are trucked to filling stations across the country for sale to the consuming public.
NOTES that following a high incidence of vandalism of petroleum products pipelines under the supervisory custody of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of NNPC, across the country, especially those pipelines under System 2e comprised of Depots in Port-Harcourt, Aba, Calabar, Enugu and Makurdi, PPMC made some operational adjustments which entailed the use of Government and Privately-owned Coastal Depots and Tank Farms for the storage and distribution of petroleum products to Major and Independent marketers across the country for retail to final consumers in the supply and demand chain.
OBSERVES that NNPC via PPMC has mostly used coastal Depots in Lagos and environs for storage and distribution of petroleum products across the country triggering a situation where private operators in the Downstream Sector jostle for spaces in the Apapa – Lagos axis for the erection of Tank Farms to enable them have access to the products with the attendant congestion and traffic upheavals.
OBSERVES that as a consequence of NNPC’s preference of Lagos as their distribution hub, almost all major and Independent Marketers now troop to Apapa/Lagos to lift petroleum products resulting in the recurring damages to roads, innumerable road crashes caused by the movement of heavy tankers and the attendant loss of countless lives and property, perennial waste of man-hours caused by vehicular gridlocks on the highways and within the cities where these vehicles operate.
INFORMED that Major and Independent petroleum products Marketers from the North East, North West, North Central, South East and parts of the South South zones of the country who, were they offered an option, may have calculated the logistics of distance and may have preferred lifting from the Coastal depots and Tank Farms in Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri are left with no option but to embark on the long distances to Lagos and environs for these products.
RECOGNISING that a determined repair of the vandalised petroleum products pipelines under System 2e that links Aba, Enugu and Makurdi Depots would diversify the economic choices of downstream operators who may wish to make use of the facilities
WORRIED that NNPC has not shown sufficient enthusiasm in the repair of those pipelines as it has shown in the consistent repair of vandalised pipelines in other parts of the country.
COGNISANT of the danger posed to the environment, the populace and the economic life of Lagos with the recurring tanker accidents as a result of congestion and gridlocks as attested to by many stakeholders and has been a subject of a motion on the floor of this Senate and therefore recognising the need to obviate this source of danger to our people.
AWARE that increasing the supply of petroleum products to other lifting points across all the coastal lines of this country is not only an economic issue but of security importance as well.
THEREFORE RESOLVES TO:
- URGE the NNPC to, as a matter of urgent public importance, increase the allocation of refined and imported petroleum products to Depots and Tank Farms in Warri, Port-Harcourt and Calabar Depots to about 70% of national consumption need.
- URGE the NNPC to prioritise the repair and renovation of vandalised pipelines from Port-Harcourt linking Aba, Enugu and Makurdi Depots for immediate resumption of operations in these facilities.
- CALL on the Security Services to step up security surveillance of petroleum products pipelines throughout the country.
- URGE the Federal Government to adequately fund the NNPC to enable it replace the outdated pipelines currently in use with modern pipes with in-built wave-lengths for ease of surveillance.