By Oluwagbenga
Bankole
A partner in the Energy and Project Finance Group of
ACAS-LAW, Barrister Sola
Adepetun charged the Federal Government to establish a paramilitary corps or special task force
with the sole mandate of protecting oil and gas installations.
Undoubtedly,
pipeline vandalism and oil theft are part of the problems previous
administrations in the country have not been able to solve in the Nigerian Oil
and Gas industry.
According to Nigeria National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the nation lost about 60,000 barrels of crude oil
per day to acts of vandalism on its pipeline. The act had robbed the nation of
several billions of naira to the detriment of the national economy.
Nigeria has lost a minimum of N8.04
billion since January, to the incessant vandalism of the country’s gas
pipelines, according to the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) a subsidiary of the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
Just few
days ago, No fewer than 100 persons involved in pipelines vandalism and
theft of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) were reportedly killed while trying to
steal the product from an oil facility at Arepo near Lagos State.
Just recently the Federal Government cancelled
pipeline protection contracts awarded to Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) and
Niger Delta militia group by the Goodluck Jonathan administration. Men of the
Nigerian Army and their naval counterparts were ordered to take over the
pipeline protection from the ethnic militia men.
Speaking at the Centre for Petroleum Information (CPI) 15th Annual Petroleum Policy Roundtable programme held recently in Lagos on the theme ‘Forging Ahead without the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB): What Options?,’ Adepetun emphasized that the operations of the task force should be supported with technology that guarantees aerial surveillance of the pipeline networks and associated infrastructure.
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