Oke-Oyi NNPC depot, near Ilorin, Kwara State capital, has been deserted since the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government, DAILY POST reports.
This is due to the non-functioning of the four refineries owned by the Federal Government which ought to supply fuel products to the numerous depots spread across the country.
Findings revealed that as a result of the dead refineries, fuel products have not been supplied from Lagos to NNPC depot at Masimi at Ibadan in Oyo State and Ilorin depot in Kwara State.
In a chat with DAILY POST in Ilorin, state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, Malam Tajudeen Balogun, lamented the disruption in the chain of distribution of the fuel products as a result of the collapse of the refineries in the country.
“Before the breakdown of the refineries, fuel products were supplied from Atlas Clove in Lagos, to Ibadan Masimi depot, in Oyo State and Ilorin Oke-Oyi depot in Kwara State.
“Ibadan Masimi depot is not working, Ilorin depot is not working and all other depots across the country because the refineries are not working.
“Ninety percent of the workers in the depots have been redundant since there are no activities at the facilities and that is the stark reality on ground,” he added.
Tajudeen disclosed that operations were paralysed at the Oke-Oyi depot after its commissioning in 2019, coupled with the removal of the fuel subsidy since Ibadan depot stopped pumping fuel to the depot.
On the removal of the fuel subsidy, the NUPENG chairman explained that “provisions ought to have been made before the removal of the policy by the federal government”.
“In addition, the refineries should have been repaired and fully operational to provide the necessary relief for the Nigerian masses,” he added.
Tajudeen expressed hopes that the promise by President Bola Tinubu that the Port Harcout refinery will come back to life in December this year will become a reality.
He asserted that if the government of the day could address the yearnings of the masses, Nigeria will be a better place for all.
“Nigeria is a complex society, it is not the President that will be everywhere, if the aides appointed by him do the right things and support his policies, the ball is not in the court of Mr president alone, but in all Nigerians to support him and criticize anti-masses policies,” he added.
