Chibisi Ohakah
Petroleum products supply in Nigeria’s west regional link has gotten a boost with the re-commissioning of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) depot in Ilorin. The depot is part of the Corporation’s System 2B Pipeline Network knocked down more than eight years ago by pipeline vandals.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, who conducted the re-commissioning last Saturday, said the idea is to restore and boost petroleum products supply in the western region of Nigeria and even neighbouring states, and in doing so reduce the risks of moving petroleum products from other parts of Nigeria.
He said the event is equally historic for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in the new quest to resuscitate the Corporation’s assets across nationwide. According to Kyari, the ancient city of Ilorin and its environs would be saved from the vagaries of bridging following the re-commissioning of the depot.
While acknowledging the Corporation’s success in re-streaming a couple of its depots and pipelines, the NNPC boss stressed that Corporation would not relent in its efforts until all pipeline networks in the country are revitalized. Mallam Kyari declared that vandalism was inimical to all parties’ interests, the NNPC and host communities’ whose commercial activities are also negatively impacted.
Commending the NNPC on the reopening of the Ilorin depot, the Kwara State Governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, who witnessed the re-commissioning, thanked the management and staff of the Corporation for their foresight in restoring the operations at the facility, saying that the development would bring prosperity to the state.
“The NNPC has saved us the stress of moving products through trucks through hundreds of kilometres with its attendant hazards and will help in securing our national assets”, he said. He assured that the people of the state will do well in assisting the NNPC in checking the activities of pipeline vandals in the state.
Abdulrahman assured the NNPC GMD that he will take deploy adequate security measures to ensure that the past is not repeated in terms of hoodlums vandalizing the assets of the national oil company.
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