With the Dangote Refinery coming on stream today, the Federal Government has been advised to revisit the issue of vandalised pipeline network linking the depots across the nation.
If the pipelines are put in place, the government can ensure that these pipelines are rented, hired or allowed to be used for trucking and moving products up North and across the nation at a fee, which of course, will be another source of revenue for the government.
A chartered accountant, Mr. John Adidi, who gave this advice, said the security of the pipeline network must be a priority to the government.
According to him, it should be done on community basis so that the community takes ownership of the pipeline passing through their land, adding they should as well be motivated to the communities for the maintenance and security of such pipeline network passing through their locations.
Describing it as a good development that has come to Nigeria, the accountant, while applauding the initiative of the Dangote Group for trying to look for a long-time solution to the petroleum product problem, added it would probably resolve the issue of subsidy.
Adidi urged the government to support the Dangote Company in its first years of their operation through exemption from company income taxes so that it can stabilise.
“If the pipelines are working and they are repaired that may be another way of reducing costs,” Adidi stated.
believing some of the depots will be linked by rail (as Lagos is now linked to rail), adding that may also be a future way of distributing the products to the hinterlands.
“It would have been better if the pipelines that link the depots are put right/repaired so that you can do the trucking and begin to move it to other locations, if they use the petroleum pipeline network across country that would have been much cheaper but some of them have been vandalized.
So if the government can put it right and link to Dangote, Dangote/or whoever that’s buying can pay for the use of government pipeline network which will be another source of revenue to the government”, Adidi further expressed.
He insisted the pipeline network linking the depots as a priority must be repaired and secured so that other big private arrangements on the refinery coming up could be hired out as transmission lines. Then, you charge them transmission fee for product transmission cost or product transmission charges to those who will use them adding that will again be another source of revenue for the nation.
However, expressing fear on the location, Adidi noted the refinery is located very close to the sea and going by the impact of sea on iron there are a lot of things that needed to be checked very often, if not done the maintenance cycle may be shorter because of the environment where it is situated, he added. According to him, when the maintenance is not coming as at when due that will bring about the breakdown of the machineries and plants.
“If there is a breakdown and you have decided to relax solely on them and the plant suddenly breaks down you have to go back to making arrangement for importation. So, unless it’s done and also supported by other modular refineries that are springing up, eventually Nigeria may be lucky to be self-sufficient in petroleum products with all these development we want to see”, Adidi added.
On whether environmental impact analysis was carried out on the plants, Adidi observed when you situate something near the sea and it has iron parts over time there will be corrosion, adding these are issues that may come up later and which will now make us look as if we take one step forward and then two steps backwards.
“If production starts and we start benefiting and everybody is happy and suddenly it stops, it will throw the nation into a very serious problem because may be no arrangement was made as a kind of stopgap arrangement and because of that there may be a serious petroleum production shortages across the country before such arrangement can now be put in place by the NNPC”, he expressed.