The United Labour Congress (ULC) on Tuesday commended the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on its plan to carry out complete overhaul-Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of Warri and Kaduna refineries for optimal production.
Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, the Lagos State Chairman of the union, gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Korodo, the immediate past South-West Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Work (NUPENG), said that the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the refineries was a good development for the sector.
NAN reports that NNPC had on Oct.13 announced indefinitely shut down of two of the nation’s three refineries due to increase in their operation costs and several maintenance interventions.
Korodo said: “Now that Dangote Refinery is about to commence operations by 2019, it is imperative we put the nation’s refineries in good position in order to compete with it.
“The indefinite closure of both refineries for rehabilitation will enable them to produce refined products for the nation’s consumption.
“The corporation should, therefore, make use of its depots throughout the country to ensure that this closure does not degenerate into scarcity of the products.
“Now that the NNPC Depot in Ibadan has been opened for loading, most of the petroleum tankers are now loading there.
“The same gesture should be extended to other depots in the South-West to ensure easy loading of products.”