Fire destroyed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation's Apata Ibadan depot on Wednesday. The event happened in the depot loading section, according to a Corporation official who spoke to Punch correspondent.

Development triggered the Apata-Abeokuta Road traffic gridlock. As of the moment of filing this report, there was no formal declaration as State Fire Service people were struggling hard to hold off the fire. After many years of negligence, the depot was reopened for service two years ago.

The reopening of the depot was part of the turn-around maintenance of the government to ease fuel loading and distribution.

The then NNPC Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, said that President Muhammadu Buhari was concerned about the ease of fuel distribution and supply to every part of the company, which he said informed his commitment to upgrading of storage facilities across the country.
He stated that the reopening of the depot would ease the stress of transporting fuel from Lagos to Ibadan.