We Need Meters To Account For Daily Oil Production – Senator Stella Oduah

A lawmaker, Sen. Stella Oduah, has urged
Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC) to put adequate metering system
in place to enable Nigerians to know the
country’s exact daily oil production.



Oduah, who is the Vice Chairman, Senate
Committee on Women Affairs, told
Newsmen in Abuja that a metering facility
would also ensure leakages in the
petroleum industry were blocked.



She expressed displeasure over NNPC’s
inability to procure the device to
adequately keep inventory of oil
production in the country, many decades
after it commenced.



According to her, it is shameful that
several decades after oil was discovered in
the country, it has yet to get a proper
metering system.



The lawmaker said, “given the fact that
crude is the mainstay of the economy, it is
important to get adequate metering
system to ensure accountability.



“I think it is a problem we should be
ashamed to be discussing because in my
view, they are problems that NNPC with all
sense of sincerity, can easily resolve.



“I was employed in NNPC in 1983 and I
was a member of a committee for
commercialisation and reconstruction of
NNPC at that time.


“The major issue we discussed,
investigated and came up with solution to,
was on how to ensure that we have
adequate measurement of crude by
having metering system in all the
terminals.



“But, why is that still an issue to be
discussed several years after?


“How do you not put in equipment that
will give you accurate measurement of
your product and this is the product that
forms the basis of our budgeting?



“This is the crux of everything we do in
this nation and every year, for the past 30
years and more, we are still talking about
measurement as an issue.



“Even if we want to mirror it against any
of the oil producing nation like U.S., UAE
and others, it is just a simple problem,’’
she said.



Oduah said, “NNPC should be sincere to
tell us why they are reluctant, and if not
for interest, why will you not want to have
proper measuring equipment on your
terminals.



“How much are the equipment? For me, it
is upsetting.’’



She explained that the equipment would
enable Nigerians to know the flow of
crude, “the quantity being exported, from
which pipeline, where it is being loaded to
and the volume loaded’’.


She added that the equipment would help
to determine the back-up stock as well as
challenges to be attended to, including the
switching off of pipelines in the event of
vandalism.



The legislator said that everything about
tracking daily oil production could be
done in NNPC offices by its officials, but
that “they have to put in the equipment;
they have to have the ICT.



“You cannot blindly stay there and wait
for the operators to give you feedback. We
do not know what we have because the
NNPC and the DPR do not know.’’



On whether passage and assent to the
Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) will tackle the
problem, she said that it would go a long
way in finding lasting solution not only to
the metering problem, but for other
challenges.


On the role of the National Assembly in
ensuring that the right equipment are put
in place, Oduah said that several reports
that emanated from the assembly on the
matter, indicted the NNPC.
She, however, assured that the 8th Senate
would not rest on its oars in making sure
that the right thing was done.
She called on the Federal Government to
put the refineries in proper shape for
adequate production of finished products
in the country.



The lawmaker said that Nigeria had all it
took to do turnaround maintenance for
the refineries while getting value for
money rather than exporting crude at
cheap rate and importing finished
product at exorbitant price.



“We do not get value for money. Nobody
does what we do. If we put money
together and do turnaround maintenance
for the refineries, it will help all of us, and
that is what we ought to do.



“The NNPC knows that what they are
doing is wrong. We have equipment, we
have an experienced workforce. In the
80s and 90s, the refineries were working.


“If one refinery is shut down, the others
will be working, but now nobody thinks
about rehabilitating those refineries.



“What are you going to do with all those
experiences that these people have
acquired? We were told then, that we had
the best refinery technicians, the best
refinery engineers,’’ she said.



On calls by some experts for establishment
of modern refineries with better
capacities, Oduah said while that was
necessary, old ones should be put to use
while plans were on for the new ones.