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The Nigerian Infrastructural Gaps Exposed By The Present Fuel Scarcity - Business - Nairaland

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The Nigerian Infrastructural Gaps Exposed By The Present Fuel Scarcity by brainzdh(m): 9:50pm On May 22, 2015
The recent wave of fuel scarcity being witnessed in the country remains the worst in history as the debacle of the unavailability of the nation’s most sought liquid after water has continued for more than a month with the government not being able to proffer a solution to it talk less of a lasting one.
With the authorities having offered various excuses for the scarcity of petroleum products over the past months, the mess has gotten to a point where the government has exhausted its pool of excuses and is forced to dig deep within its recess to put an end to the menace.
While it would be difficult to totally determine the extent of damage the present scarcity of petroleum products in the country might have caused the nation, the engineering gaps or weaknesses of the country as revealed by the scarcity can easily be identified.
Listed below are some of the engineering deficiencies of the country’s engineering sector and indirectly the Nigerian engineer.

The Refineries are not working: The present fuel scarcity and every other fuel scarcity in the country simply serve as a means of telling Nigerians that the country’s refineries are not working. While the government may have formed a habit of telling Nigerians over the years that the country’s refineries are working to certain capacities over the years and looking to improve upon it, this present fuel scarcity has revealed that the refineries are not working. If the refineries were working to a certain level, they would have been able to supply fuel to meet the demand of a segment of the country’s huge population and its resultant huge demand for fuel in the country.
Since the discovery of oil in the country in 1956 and the production subsequently, Nigeria built refineries in the country numbering four and it is worthy of note to inform that while a great deal of giant strides has been recorded by local engineers in the country, little effort has been committed to the development of maintenance and handling capacities of the refineries by the authorities and concerned bodies which leaves us at the mercy of the foreigners who built the refineries way back in time.

The Pipelines are Non-functional: The country has over the years invested huge sums of money in the construction of oil pipelines across the country for the supply of crude and refined petroleum products. The petroleum pipeline network links the production platforms, refineries and storage depots across the country.
But quite sadly, the pipelines are in bad conditions due to poor maintenance practices and largely vandalism in the recent years. The poor state of the pipeline distribution network in the country has limited the transportation of petroleum products in the country to the use of tankers on road which is not as efficient as the movement of petroleum products through pipelines.
The constant series of fuel scarcity has brought out this engineering deficiency to the fore as most oil marketers now lift their petroleum products from the terminals and tank farms which are mostly based in Lagos. This makes it difficult for the quick and efficient transportation of petroleum products to all parts of the country forcing marketers to transport refined products over longer distances thereby affecting overhead costs and the retail price across the country. Even if the product was readily available in the country, some marketers still ferry fuel over long distances and sell at prices above the recommended N87 per litre approved by the government.
Even though local engineers are more than capable of maintaining the pipelines and even deploying new ones, the dangerous security situation due to the activities of armed vandals has limited the capabilities and functionality of Nigerian engineering companies and engineers. As of today, the highly vandalised and poorly maintained pipelines has kept most of NNPC’s oil depots across the country without supply over a long period of time. 

The Power Situation is bad: The recent fuel scarcity has put a lot of pressure on the Nigerian populace as both vehicles and non vehicle owners are affected by the scarcity of the product. In all of the period since the scarcity has started, the number of people who want to purchase fuel for the running of their generators has always been longer than those who require it for the running of their vehicles.
This  indicates that a great amount of people require fuel daily to power their generators which only bear testament to the poor power situation in the country with only a little above 2,500MW of electricity being generated in the country over the past month despite the privatisation of the power sector some 18 months ago.  

The Public Transport Sector is sub standard: The scarcity of petroleum products in the country directly imparts the mobility of people with their cars and the domestic power generation of households as the poor power situation in the country has pushed us to. But another area where the country is doing badly is in the organised transport sector. This present fuel scarcity has made it categorically clear that the country lacks a functional organised transport sector.
In developed climes, the availability of an organised transport sector apart from aiding smooth and seamless movement of people across the country also helps to create a natural buffer against hardships in transportation that may occur due to contingent issues like fuel scarcity, public mass action, etc. But during this period of fuel scarcity in the country, a lot of commuters were stranded at various locations and leaving them at the mercy of shylock transporters who charged exorbitant fares.
While the efforts of corporate transport companies (both government and privately owned) in states like Lagos, Rivers, Niger, Enugu and the Federal Capital Territory, there still exist a huge gap that must be filled in the organised transport sector to help mitigate against further hardship in the transport sector that might occur in the future. 
There is no need repeating the fact that the country’s economy and its lifeline is heavily dependent on crude oil and its derivatives, but what must be categorically stated again is the fact that the management of the nation’s oil sector from the upstream, downstream through to retail and the petro-allied sectors need to be properly aligned to help reduce the infrastructural deficit in the country and close the gap between the country and other developed nations.

Credits: http://go.engineer-ng.net/profiles/blogs/the-nigerian-infrastructural-deficits-exposed-by-the-present-fuel

Re: The Nigerian Infrastructural Gaps Exposed By The Present Fuel Scarcity by podosci(m): 10:03pm On May 22, 2015
When shall Nigeria gain freedom from her oppressors? She has been raped, maltreated and left to die.
Its time for Nigerians to stand up and defend Nigeria

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Re: The Nigerian Infrastructural Gaps Exposed By The Present Fuel Scarcity by puskin: 12:54am On May 23, 2015
.........and some jobless youths dey trek all over Nigeria for some politicians wey no even sabi say dem exist.

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