THERE are fears that marketers may not be able to lift fuel at the Ejigbo Depot in Lagos State as five of its storage facilities have stopped working.
It was gathered that five facilities at the depot were not working, a development, which has made it difficult for the Depot to store fuel for onward distribution to marketers, who came to load petroleum products.
The source said each of the facilities has capacity to store five million litres of fuel implying that the five facilities can store 25million litres of fuel.
The issue, it was learnt, has hindered the capacity of the depot to serve marketers in Lagos and beyond.
This happens as the country is just coming out of one of its worst fuel scarcity, which grounded economic activities and further made it impossible for people to move around.
The Nation during a visit to the depot confirmed that four of the facilities are for storing premium motor spirit (PMS) while the fifth stores diesel. The issue has slowed down activities as marketers spend hours before loading their trucks. Some sections of the facilities were overgrown with weeds due to several years of neglect.
A member of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), who begged for anonymity, said each tank was built to accommodate five million litres, adding that they were constructed to support availability of fuel during acute shortage.
He said the depot has been relying on few, but smaller tanks to take delivery of fuel supply from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
He said: “Each of the facilities has a capacity for five million litres. This translates to 25 million litres. The dysfunctional state of the tanks poses threat to the ability of the depot to keep enough fuel in its reservoir. The areas, which serve as the cover or lid of the facilities were broken, so also the walls of the facilities. This has made it difficult for the management of the depot to store fuel in them. The problem is yet to be rectified despite the operators call for the attention of the management of NNPC to the problem.”
Besides, the Ejigbo Satellite depot cannot meet the yearnings of marketers in Lagos as it cannot provide fuel for marketers that are unable to be accommodated by the Apapa depot.”
The source said a contractor was hired by the NNPC two years ago to repair the facilities. He, however, added that the contractor has since stopped work. He urged the Federal Government to proffer solution to fuel crisis by ensuring proper maintenance of its depots.
He added that the Ejigbo depot has assisted in the supply of fuel to strategic areas, such as Ibadan and Ilorin in Oyo and Kwara states respectively since the NNPC’s depots in those states stopped operating many years ago.
He said the depot is strategically located to serve marketers in the Southwest, adding that the issue has disrupted the supply of fuel in recent times.
Efforts to get the Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, to comment on the issue proved abortive as neither calls and text messages sent to him were replied.
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