…Urges FG to optimise $25bn Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project
…Petroleum pipelines in the country are in bad shape and need urgent rehabilitation
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Ore depot, Western Zone, has said that pipelines linking Benin, Ore, Musomi Ejigbo, Ibadan and Ilorin depots have been ruptured. It noted that the ones between Benin, Ore, Musomi and Ibadan have been abandoned.
IPMAN Chairman, Shina Amao, in an interview with New Telegraph at the weekend raised the alarm that petroleum pipelines in the country were in bad shape and need urgent rehabilitation.
He stressed the need for the Federal Government to put the pipelines in good shape to avoid disruption of products delivery and the consequent negative effects on the nation. Amao explained: “In the area of the white product, petrol, kerosene and diesel, the pipeline betwen Lagos and Musomi is just being managed.
The pipeline between Musomi and Ejigbo depot has been ruptured. The ones between Musomi and Ibadan have been abandoned. The one between Benin and Ore has been abandoned for decades. “The one between Musomi and Ore has been ruptured The one between Ibadan and Ilorin is the same thing. And they do revamping. A product will first get to Musomi before Musomi will push it to Ejigbo. Musonmi will also push to Ibadan and from Ibadan, will have the opportunity to push to Ilorin.
We have been having this challenge since. “Even our refineries have not been taken as priority and we are still importing this product at an exorbitant price. Imagine while the crude oil price is increasing, we should be smiling, but the crude oil is increasing and we are not smiling. We are just seeing it and we can not benefit because we sell out expensive crude, we will buy the expensive white products.”
Also, he urged the Federal Government to optimise the opportunities and benefits of the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project. He noted that the pipeline, estimated to cost about $25 billion, was targeted to be completed in stages for 25 years.
The Federal Executive Council recently approved for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to enter into an agreement with ECOWAS for the construction of the gas pipeline. According to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, the pipeline would traverse 15 West African countries to Morocco and Spain.
The pipeline is an extension of the existing West African Gas Pipeline that transverses from Lagos, Nigeria, connecting Cotonou, Benin; Lomé, Togo and Tema and Takoradi, Ghana.
It would additionally connect to Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Monrovia, Abidjan, Liberia, Freetown, Conakry, Guinea, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, Banjul, Gambia, Dakar, Senegal, Tangiers, Nouakchott, Mauritania; Morocco and Cádiz and Spain. Amao said that the project should be a laudable and profitable venture, adding that Nigeria should benefit from the project. He said: “The contract has been signed and it is on already.
We pray that it will be done effectively. May God guide them to make good decisions so that we can have a good trading period. We need to benefit from the profit from that arrangement and the money that will be generated should be used for something meaningful for our internal economy.
“We need to look at all the stations that have been abandoned. If the revenue generated is well utilised, we will see good roads, good hospitals and NNPC refineries working. They should collaborate well with their foreign partners to ensure that prudence and transparency are manifested in that contract because we have more than enough in terms of gas here.”
SOURCE: newtelegraphng.com