By YANGE IKYAA

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said an agreement has been reached with stakeholders on a framework for NNPC’s intervention in critical road rehabilitation through the Federal Government Tax Credit Scheme.

Mallam Mele Kyari, who is group managing director of NNPC, disclosed this during a meeting with industry groups, according to a statement released by Garba Deen Muhammad, the corporation’s
group general manager,
group public affairs division.

“We are committed to utilising the Federal Government’s Tax Credit Scheme to rebuild some of the affected roads in line with Mr. President’s Executive Order 7. Upon our fruitful deliberations today, the NNPC has pledged to support the PTD and NARTO in carrying out quick intervention fixes on some strategic bad spots identified to enable unhindered movement of trucks for transportation of petroleum products nationwide,” Mallam Kyari stated.

Established under FG’s Executive Order 7 of 2019, the Road Trust Fund Policy/Tax Credit Scheme gives private sector operators an opportunity to fund critical infrastructure with the government.

Stakeholders also agreed to enforce mandatory installation of safety valves in all petroleum product trucks in the country, effective February 1, 2022 and with full commitment given by NARTO.

The meeting also frowned at the abuse of axle load or tonnage limits, with NNPC leadership agreeing to engage the Nigerian Customs Service for enforcement of preventing the importation of tanks that exceed 45,000 litres in capacity.

As a follow-up to its efforts in sustaining the current smooth supply and distribution of petroleum products nationwide within the approaching festive period and beyond, NNPC has been consistently engaged critical consultations with multiple stakeholders so as to find lasting solutions to the road network challenges and other lingering issues.

It would be recalled that following corporation’s intervention last weekend, the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) Branch of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum & Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) called off a planned strike action, agreeing instead to embrace the dialogue option proposed by NNPC, a development that has sustained smooth supply and distribution of petroleum products nationwide.

This was made possible when, on October 12, Kyari took a decisive step towards actualizating his promise by hosting a major stakeholders’ meeting at the NNPC Towers.

The meeting was attended by NNPC, PTD, the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Federal Ministry of Works, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Department of State Services (DSS), the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum & Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).