By Clara Nwachukwu
House of Representatives Committee on Downstream Petroleum, has condemned what it described as the poor management and maintenance of Federal Government’s petroleum assets in the country.

The committee expressed worry that while private depots and jetties are running efficiently and effectively, judging from their inspection of some petroleum assets in Lagos, government-owned assets are riddled with tales of woes.

Expressing the committee’s dismay after an inspection of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC’s Ejigbo Satellite Depot and other private depots in Lagos on Tuesday, the committee’s chairman, Mr. Dakuku Peterside, said a whole lot of issues are begging for a change in the downstream petroleum sector.

He said: “In the course of our oversight function, we noticed, to our chagrin, that most of the government’s downstream assets are either not well managed or not well maintained, or both.

“But on the other hand, private assets are better maintained and well managed, which means that the business of downstream operations is better managed by private hands.”