Mr Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on Wednesday reiterated the stakeholders’ collaborations toward fixing the Satellite Depot Road to ease petroleum products distributions.
Kyari made this known during an inspection of the Satellite Depot located at Ijegun, a suburb of Lagos.
He said the visit was part of the measures to alleviate the hardship being faced by residents of Ijegun-Egba area over the activities of cluster oil depots in the area.
The Satellite Depot house 12 companies including: Emadeb Petroleum, A.A Rano Energy, Wosbab Petroleum, Menj Oil, Ocean Pride, Chipet Petroleum and Rain Oil.
Others are: First Royal, Mao Petroleum, Bond Global Energy, Stalionaire Petroleum and Star Petroleum.
Kyari said the corporation had taken wider engagement with stakeholders including NNPC, Ministry of Works, Lagos State Government and depot owners, on how to find lasting solution to challenges facing the Satellite Road.
According to him, we have about 2.6 billion litres of petroleum products offshore and onshore in Lagos State to meet the nation’s demands.
“We have enough of product in stock; as we speaks, we loaded over 20 million litres of petrol on daily basis out of the Satellite Depot.
“We have a robust plan on ground that will ensure availability of products in all states during the yuletide period and after.
“Our plans are to ensure that Nigerians buy petroleum product at ease in any location they found themselves.
“I have seen some level of stakeholders’ alignment here today, in ensuring that petroleum products get to all nooks and crannies of the country,’’ he said.
The group managing director said that motorists and other consumers of petroleum products have been assured of adequate stock to meet their energy needs.
He said that rehabilitation of the Satellite Road remains priority to all stakeholders which must be done.
Kyari, however, commended the Nigerian Army Engineering for the ongoing road construction embarked upon in the area.
He said that essence of his visit was to ensure accessibility to the depot for easy loading of petroleum products to other parts of the country.
In his remarks, Mr Debo Olujimi, the Managing Director, Emadeb Energy, expressed satisfaction with the level of support and collaboration from the NNPC and other stakeholders in ensuring that the challenges of operators were addressed.
Olujimi, also the Chairman, Tank Farm Owners Association, Ijegun-Egba Satellite, commended Kyari for supporting the development of the downstream operation.
He said that under his leadership the sector had witnessed tremendous progress.
“Well, we are very happy as depot owners. A combination of entire depot is close to 600 million litres capacity.
“I speak to you, on the average, we are loading between 18 and 20 million litres on daily basis.
“The collaboration, in terms of what we need, in terms of support, we are already getting it from the NNPC, the Lagos State Government and every stakeholder.
“The way things are going, for the end of the year, there will strictly be robust and 24 hours operations out of here.
“Where we have issues on the road, the Lagos State Government, in conjunction with the Federal Government and NNPC, are already taking care of it.
“Going forward, we can only assure residents and all stakeholders within Ijegun that everything here will be smooth and that their lives are safe and secured,” he added.
Also, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Downstream, Rep. Abdullahi Gaya, assured Nigerians of product availability during the Yuletide.
Gaya said he would go back to the House to intimate his colleagues about what he had seen.
“We assure Nigerians that we will do everything possible to make things very easy for Nigerians in this festive season,” he said.
