Former Chairman, Lagos Zonal Council, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), and leading oil and gas expert, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, on Monday raised an issue of industry importance, saying the best bet for the government is to encourage investors to build refineries than issuing licences for tank farms here and there.
In an interview in Lagos, he said “What are we doing with over 100 depots, while we have just four refineries with a population of 180 million?“We should be thinking of how to get more refineries to refine more products than keep building more tank farms.
“Go to Apapa now, when I joined the oil sector in 1982, we had only seven tank farms in Apapa, but today, we have more than 62 tank farms in the place alone.“In Lagos alone, we have more than 80 tank farms, while we have over 30 depots in other states of the federation.
“What are we doing with all these depots when we don’t have refined products?” he asked.He said the country’s founding fathers meant well for the nation when they built three refineries and one storage facility in Lagos in the 70s.
“Atlas Cove storage was built in Lagos to receive products from the refineries to serve the people in the Western part of the country.
“Refinery was built in Warri, Delta State to serve the people in South-South part, while Port Harcourt Refinery will serve the people in South Eastern part. The Kaduna refinery was built to serve the people in the North.
Korodo averred that “Unfortunately, the subsequent government messed up the whole plan and allowed these entire infrastructures to decay”.
Business Hilights recalls that several stakeholders have traced the intractable traffic gridlocks within the port city of Apapa to rising number of tank farms which has extended to Badagry waterside and Oriade LCDA since recently.
Besides, Lagos State government had severally called on the Federal Government to stop the Department of Petroluem Resources (DPR) from giving further tank farm licences to curb the traffic hell faced by Lagos motorists on the axis.
However, last month, the Vice President graced the commissioning of another tank farm in Ogun State.
