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From Uche Usim, Abuja
PricewaterHouseCoopers (PwC) and other external auditors have given the Nigerian Products Marketing Company (NPMC) and the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC) clean bill of health after perusing the books. Both companies are downstream subsidiaries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, stated this yesterday in Abuja, at the end of the 24th, 25th and 26th Annual General Meetings of its NPMC and NPSC.
According to the NNPC boss, the audit result showed the two companies operated within internationally approved standards, even as he vowed to ensure adequate petroleum products availability in all parts of the country, the daunting challenges notwithstanding.
He said the two companies had fared well given the circumstances in which they found themselves, pointing out that amidst upheavals in products pricing and the intrigues among players in the industry, they had ensured an unimpeded petroleum products supply into the market.
“The NPMC and NPSC are the sole vehicles through which the NNPC is currently satisfying its obligation of being the supplier of last resort to the nation. We have ensured that we sustain the steady supply of petroleum products across the country and we are doing this onerous task with integrity,” Baru posited.
The NNPC boss further explained that the splitting of Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC) into NPMC and NPSC was to commercialise the operations of the company for the better.
He stated that the Federal Government and the NNPC had put in place strategies to engage members of various host communities to stem incidences of pipeline infractions, adding that the efforts were yielding positive results.
Recall that the recent strategic intervention of NNPC led to a 42 per cent fall in the price of diesel and has continued to sustain the downward trend across the country.
The corporation has also taken steps to resuscitate some of its critical pipelines and depots such as the Atlas Cove-Mosimi Depot Pipeline, Port Harcourt Refinery-Aba Depot Pipeline, Kaduna-Kano Pipeline and the Kano Depot, which have enhanced efficiency in the distribution of diesel.
Another area of intervention that has enhanced supply and distribution of diesel is the corporation’s robust engagement with critical downstream stakeholders such as Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) as well as Independent Petroleum Marketers (IPM), leading to the resolution of salient issues.
