The Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has revealed that the reason why petroleum products are being transported on Nigerian roads is that most of the pipelines transporting the products have outlived their lifespans.
Senator Lokpobiri made this revelation on Monday when he received the new leadership of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), led by Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed, in his office in Abuja.
He submitted that “ordinarily, petroleum products ought to be transported through pipelines to nearer locations where people can come and take to their final destinations, but most of the pipelines have outlived their lifespans and are capital intensive to replace them.
“If you put anyone, maybe only 10% will get to the city because the pipes are already gone, he said.
While noting that the old pipelines encourage crude oil theft, the Minister disclosed that the government was considering the deployment of technology to address the incidences of pipeline vandalism in the country.
He affirmed that the ministry would work closely with the corps to prevent road accidents by 100 percent, as the products are being transported across the country.
This, according to him, would be achieved through proper training and certification of the tanker drivers.
He pledged to take it up with the parastatals under his ministry, especially, with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to provide training support, ambulances, and patrol vehicles for the corps.
He welcomed the idea of fixing safety boxes across petroleum depots to prevent fire outbreaks.
He told the visitors that the lack of investments in the sector due largely to the absence of enabling laws and regulatory uncertainty has been reversed, as investments are now beginning to flow into the sector.
Earlier, the Corps Marshal, FRSC, Shehu Mohammed, said the Corps was at the ministry to explore some areas of collaboration to prevent road traffic accidents in the country.
He applauded the Minister for the tremendous achievements so far recorded in the petroleum sector of the nation’s economy.
He highlighted some of the achievements, to include the increase in the crude oil production from 1 million barrels per day to almost 2 million barrels per day, the unification of the agencies under his ministry to produce results, and the stakeholder engagement that has returned peace to the troubled Niger Delta region.
He appealed for support in the provision of ambulances and patrol vehicles to increase the Corps’ visibility on Nigerian highways, to make the roads safer, and to execute its mandate as enshrined in the FRSC Act.
