The Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, has assured that the corporation have made adequate preparations for a hitch-free yuletide celebration full of petroleum products.
Mallam Kyari disclosed this during separate visits to tank farms at the Ijegun-Egba corridor, as well as the Lagos State Government House in Ikeja, Lagos, on Wednesday.
He stated that as an enabler organisation to the Nigerian economy which also guarantees national energy security, the NNPC would continue to partner with stakeholders such as the Lagos Government, to sustain the current seamless supply and distribution of products nationwide, going into the Yuletide period.
He said: “As a responsible corporate citizen, NNPC and its partners in the Downstream have made adequate preparations, and our plan is robust and we foresee a very hitch-free Christmas full of products, well into the New Year.”
The Managing Director further disclosed that NNPC will partner with the Lagos State Government, depot owners and petroleum tanker drivers to address infrastructural challenges that have perennially hampered products evacuation from the Ijegun-Egba area.
While addressing tank farms operators at the Ijegun-Egba area, Kyari lauded their initiative to pull resources together to fix the Ijegun Road leading to the tank farms to ease movement of trucks in the area.
Mallam Kyari added that although it was a palliative arrangement, the NNPC and its stakeholders would put heads together to provide a permanent solution to the problems.
In his remarks, Governor Babajide Sanwolu, expressed his support to NNPC and its stakeholders’ initiative to tackle the infrastructure challenges, not only at the Ijegun-Egba, but the entire state, adding that his administration would leave no stone unturned in tackling the challenges.
He stated: “This is the first time all the stakeholders are coming together to have a long-term view of the situation. We will do everything that is required to ensure that everything goes well on that entire corridor.”
Also speaking, Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Hon. Abdullahi Mahmud Gaya, expressed the National Assembly’s support to the initiative.
At the palace of the Oba of Lagos, His Royal Majesty Oba Rilwan Akiolu I, called on International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the Country to do more Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in their areas of operations.
Other stakeholders on the GMD’s entourage were the National President of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Comrade Williams Akporeha and the Chairman, Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Unit of NUPENG, Comrade Salimon Oladiti.
