After close to a year of inactivity due to vandalism on a major pipeline, the Mosimi oil depot in Ogun State is back online, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) revealed on Monday. According to NNPC’s group managing director, Maikanti Baru who supervised the re-commencement of operations at the depot, it is a major milestone in the state company’s objective to boost supply and distribution of petroleum products across Nigeria.

“This is a historic day for NNPC, the South West Region and indeed Nigeria as this great Area is once back on stream, bringing more fortunes for all and sundry,” said the GMD’s spokeperson and NNPC’s Chief Operating Officer Downstream, Henry Ikem Obih (photo). The official said the shutdown of the facility greatly affected commercial activities, and livelihoods of populations in the region. It also put a lot of pressure on NNPC as it had to move trucks from Lagos to substitute the vandalized pipeline that is connected to the depot.

Still in line with the re-commencement of operations at the Mosimi depot, Baru said the NNPC will bring back online more pipelines. “This effort will continue. Already, plans are underway to re-commission System 2D (Kaduna-Kano; Kaduna-Jos; Kaduna-Suleja) pipeline. Very soon Kano, Jos and Suleja will experience the impact of our collective resolve to get these critical infrastructures back on stream,” he stated.

Let’s recall that over the past year, many oil infrastructures in the Niger Delta region have been damaged by militants. As a result, as much as a third of the country’s production was cut. A situation which had a significant impact on the economy as Nigeria derives about two third of its revenues from oil, its main export.

Schadrac Akinocho