By Musa Adamu
Abuja
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced that a total of 531 million litres of petrol valued at over N50 billion was lost to pipeline vandals between January and September, 2015, at the problematic system 2B pipeline network which stretches from the Atlas Cove in Lagos to Ilorin.
In a presentation to the Senate committee on petroleum downstream, managing director of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the NNPC, Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, stated that the losses which chiefly accrued from the vandalism of the pipeline at the notorious Arepo to Mosimi axis of the pipeline artery, had made the task of providing seamless flow of petroleum products to retail outlets more burdensome.
She said that despite the challenge posed by the unavailability of the vital system 2B Pipeline network, the PPMC had continued to ensure that the country remains wet with petrol through massive truck-out from depots in Lagos, Oghara and recently Calabar.
The PPMC MD however, noted that the spirited efforts made so far by the corporation to entrench zero fuel queues across the country were being hampered by the activities of some unscrupulous marketers involved in hoarding, sharp practices and diversion of petroleum products for sale in black markets across the country.
She said “We view this as a distortion to the economy and we have invited the DSS and the EFCC to take action.”
Earlier in his presentation, the Group Executive Director, Commercial and Investment, Dr. Babatunde Adeniran, told the Senate committee that the fuel situation was exacerbated by the inability of oil marketers to meet their import allocation quota due to outstanding subsidy payments, thus, creating a gap which PPMC had been working round the clock to bridge despite the extraneous challenges like hoarding and incessant pipeline hacking.
