House of Representatives yesterday urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to establish and equip more depots across the country and strictly regulate the operations of private depot owners as part of efforts to end fuel scarcity in the country.
This followed the adoption of a motion on the Need to Establish More Petrol Depots in Nigeria moved by Hon Uju Kingsley.
While presenting the motion, Hon Kingsley noted that there were insufficient depots to store petroleum products in Nigeria and that an estimated 100 million litres of bad petrol imported in Nigeria have caused fuel scarcity in Nigeria with the consequent effect of adulteration of the product by roadside black-market vendors.
He raised concern that the proliferation of adulterated petrol had caused severe damage to vehicle engines and inflicted more pains on the people.
He added that despite efforts to address the fuel scarcity, long queues and shortage of the product still persist at fueling stations across the country.
“According to information available on the official website of the NNPC, Nigeria has 5,000 kilometres of pipeline network, twenty-one (21) storage depots and nine (9) LPG depots which are grossly inadequate to effectively serve the 36 states of the country as well as the Federal Capital Territory, hence the recurrent fuel scarcity.
“Many other depots are owned by private individuals who receive fuel from the NNPC and then sell at exorbitant prices, causing unnecessary irregularities in the price of the product across the country.
“If more fuel depots are established, fuel scarcity will be curbed while more employment opportunities will be created as a result, thus improving the country’s economy,” he said.
The House mandated its Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) to ensure compliance.
