By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Maikanti Baru, has ordered an immediate investigation into the cause of the fire outbreak at the Abule Egba area of Lagos State in the early hours of Wednesday.
In a press statement issued yesterday NNPC Group General Manager in charge of Public Affairs, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, said the Nigerian Pipeline and Storage Company (NPSC), an Autonomous Business Unit of the corporation, was given the marching order to carry out a full investigation of the incident and undertake immediate repairs of the affected part of the vandalised pipeline.
It was gathered that the incident was caused as a result of activities of vandals on a portion of the NNPC pipeline at Abule Egba in Lagos.
Some people were believed to have lost their lives in the inferno, while properties worth millions of Naira were destroyed, including vehicles and houses.
Mr Ughamadu said in the statement that the GMD of the national oil company commiserated with families of the victims of the fire incident, admonishing Nigerians to keep away from the corporation’s pipelines.
Meanwhile, Mr Baru has assured of adequate petroleum products supply in Lagos and its environs despite the incident.
He said NNPC has enough stock of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, and other products, adding that the company’s petrol stock would last about 45-days even in the absence of fresh supplies, advising members of the public not to engage in panic buying.
Adedapo Adesanya