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The idea behind the creation of Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), can not be over emphasised. PPMC is a wholly-owned downstream subsidiary business unit of NNPC, with the primary responsibility of profitably and efficiently marketing refined petroleum products in the domestic market and ensuring products supply efficiency either from domestic refining or from imports.
In addition to its core mandate, PPMC is the national strategic reserve holder for PMS and a major supplier of PMS nationwide.
With the above analysis of core value of the company in addition to this, was the correspondent merit in how its good management can eliminate lot of things that causes loss and death on our roads. It is really a sad story that in Nigeria, we still use heavy vehicles and trailers to transport vulnerable products on our highways causing road damage and constant loss of lives that can be avoided through transportation of our various product through all the designated pipelines.
For instance PPMC pipeline from Port Harcourt to Aba of just 52 kilometers, PH to Enugu 210 kilometer distance, Enugu to Markudi 180 kilometers. In the Western part of Nigeria, the pipelines that exist are Mosimi to Ibadan about 80 kilometers, Ibadan to Ilorin 168 kilometers, Mosimi to Ore 151 kilometers, Ore to Benin 110 up to Warri which is 89.9 kilometers. All roads in these axes do record calamities and huge cost of maintenance by the federal government.
This call is for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to revisit the on-going concession and contracts for the overhauling of our various depots with the idea of handing them over to investors, a tactical and dangerous way to hand over national asset to some few individuals.
PPMC can survive on its own, run effectively if well managed. The pipeline simply needs to be overhauled, and work with the intention to commercialise it in such a way to break even with the government to ensure total protection.
No known economy policy can survive without the protection of our pipelines across the country. Oil and Gas is our major sources of revenue in this country, we certainly can not totally leave it in the hands of some powerful individual to run. The pipelines can operate and transport products to various depots and relatively charge for both local production and imported products.
PPMC should remain our national pride, so that we can overhaul the management to be more effective but not to totally scrap it.
Hon Rotimi Makinde is a former staff of PPMC and former member Federal House of Representatives.