By Our Correspondent
Dangerous snakes and rodents have taken over the hitherto ever-busy NNPC Oke-Oyi Depot near Ilorin the Kwara state capital.
This is because the facility which receives supply of fuel products from Ibadan, Oyo state, has been deserted by stakeholders in the oil business as a result has become moribund
The Oke-Oyi NNPC depot which has remained idle for year’s, and is now a ghost town with thick bushes within and around the complex.
The non-functioning of the depot is traced to the collapse of the nationโs four refineries and the effect of the removal of the fuel subsidy by the Federal government.
Findings revealed that apart from the Depot Manager, Malam Abdulrahman, and a few staff including security guards who have been reporting for duty, business activities have stopped for several years at the depot.
A staff of the facility who spoke on condition of anonymity lamented that even if the refineries are revived and functional, “there is still work to do on the 21 fuel depots spread across the country to complement the refineries and ease smooth distribution of the fuel products.
He disclosed that most of the depots had been vandalized over the years and critical equipment carted away.
Since the depot in Ibadan stopped pumping fuel products to Ilorin depot, stakeholders now go to Lagos to procure the products with the attendant risks and increased costs.
“Rather than utilize our prowess, training and knowledge in engineering, we continue to blow grammar,” which has not helped the situation in the country and citizens continue to bear the brunt.
“Unless the refineries work, the depots across the country will continue to remain idle,” the source added.
The staff bemoaned the current condition of the Ilorin depot alongside others across the country and hoped the government of the day will do the needful to rescue the facilities in the interest of the Nigerian citizens who are at the receiving end.
During a recent visit to the Oke-Oyi depot, on a fact-finding mission, the state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Murtala Saheed Olayinka, called on the federal government to urgently address the unemployment issue created by the non-functioning of the refineries and depots across the country.
According to the labour leader, with the stakeholders of the depot in particular thrown out of jobs, “it has become impossible and difficult to feed their families and many have died in the process.”
Murtala, appealed to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to intervene as the current chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, in the interest of the suffering workers.
“We so much believe that if our refineries are put to work, our depots will function properly and when our depots function, our workers and other stakeholders from within and other zones of the country will make use of the depot in Kwara state and have their fuel tankers loaded in Ilorin.
“As far as the NLC is concerned, of which NUPENG, PTD, IMB and IPMAN among others that are affiliates of the labour movement, we can not rest or relent on our oars but wake up from our slumber and rise up to our challenges and call on our governments to do what is needful,” he added.
