Nigeria Lost N53bn To Pipeline Vandalisation In Two Years - NNPC

Taiwo Adisa, Abuja - 16.02.2008

Nigeria lost about N53.8 billion to petroleum pipeline vandalisation in 2006 and 2007, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said.

The Group Managing Director (GMD) of the NNPC, Engineer Abubakar Yar’Adua, who made the disclosure before the Senate Committee on Petroleum, (Downstream), stated that while the sum of N36.6 billion was lost in 2006, another N16.9 billion was lost in 2007.

NNPC said the hemorrhage of the past years had not allowed the corporation to take its prime position in the oil industry in Africa.

He stated that the country cannot be proud of importation of petroleum products, adding that the country must build two refineries in Lagos and Calabar immediately if it wants to leave behind the regime of importation.

A breakdown of the figures representing the losses by the NNPC indicate that Port Harcourt refineries recorded the highest financial loss of N21 billion in 2006.

Engineer Yar’ Adua, who led a team of the corporation’s management to meet with the Senate Committee, also disclosed that the NNPC had concluded plans to build mega stations in some key West African countries like Ghana, Togo, and Benin Republic.

He explained that the plan, when actualised would resolve the problems of trans-border smuggling of refined petroleum products.

He told the Senator Emmanuel Paulker-led Senate Committee that the corporation was yet to complete the construction of the 37 mega stations being built across the country.

According to him, only 25 mega stations have been built across the country, leaving a balance of 12 stations.

He 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.”

Yar’Adua also implored the Senate to help convince the executive arm of government to support NNPC’s plan to build one refinery each in Lagos and Cross River states, adding that even South Africa with just a population of 40 million had more refineries than Nigeria.

Senator Paulker had informed the NNPC delegation that the committee was worried by the myriad of problems bedeviling the sector.

He said the problems of petroleum products prices, under-capacity operations of refineries, perennial importation of refined petroleum products and adulteration of petroleum products were issues the committee was worried about, adding that the interactive session should provide the way forward.