National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has criticised the centralisation of storage of imported petroleum products in the country.
The union emphasised the need for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to equally utilise the Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries’ depots for the storage and distribution of products.
According to the Central Working Committee (CWC) of the union, which met in Lagos, the utilisation of these depots would reduce the congestion in Apapa, Lagos.
President of NUPENG, Williams Akporeha, who briefed the media on the resolutions of the CWC, said the union was concerned that the NNPC mostly patronise private depots in Lagos to the detriment of publicly owned and other private depots outside Lagos.
This, Akporeha said, was affecting workers and NUPENG members, as they have been rendered idle. “The CWC-in-session is concerned that the strategic refinery depots of Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcpourt are not being fully utilised despite being in functional conditions; they are not being used for the distribution of NNPC mostly imported products, while the private depots continue to have full patronage.”
“The CWC-in-session therefore urges the NNPC to reconsider the decision not to send most of its imported petroleum products to Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt’s depots.
NUPENG expressed support for use of other private depots outside Lagos as one of the realistic solutions to decongest the gridlock in Apapa and ease the problem of petroleum products supply and distribution for domestic, commercial and industrial utilisation in the country,” the union argued.
JOSHUA BASSEY
