BETWEEN 2006 and 2007, Nigeria lost about N53.8 billion to petroleum pipeline vandalisation, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said.
In a presentation to the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Down Stream) yesterday at the National Assembly, NNPC Managing Director, Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua declared that the nation lost N36.6 billion in 2006 and N16.9 billion in 2007 to the vandals.
A breakdown of the figures showed that the Port Harcourt Refinery was hardest hit as it recorded the highest financial loss of N21 billion in 2006 alone.
Yar’ Adua, who led the corporation’s management to an interactive session convened by the Senate panel said that the NNPC had concluded plans to build mega stations in Ghana, Togo, and Benin Republic.
He explained that the measure would help to resolve the problems of trans-border smuggling of refined petroleum products.
He, however, told he Senator Emmanuel Paulker-led team that the Corporation was yet to complete the construction of the 37-mega stations it embarked upon across the country.
According to him, only 25 had been completed while the remaining 12 were at their finishing stage in addition to the 12 floating stations being executed in parts of Niger Delta.
The session also afforded both the committee and the NNPC the opportunity to assess the state of Nigeria ‘s refineries. Both parties agreed that more refineries needed to be built in the country to boost fuel supply.
Yar’Adua said: “The past administrations simply built refineries to make money but they failed to invest in their maintenance. That is why the issue of Turn Around Maintenance (TAM), which is supposed to be done every two-years was never accorded any priority. And so, the refineries don’t operate efficiently and sufficiently.”
He, therefore, urged the Senate to prevail on the executive arm of government to support NNPC’s plan to build one refinery each in Lagos and Cross River states, adding South Africa with just a population of 40 million had more refineries than Nigeria.
Earlier, Paulker had told the NNPC team that the undying problems of petroleum products prices, under capacity utilisation of refineries, the perennial importation of refined products and adulteration of fuel were some among issues that prompted the forum.