Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior
Staff Association of Nigeria,
PENGASSAN, has called on the
Federal Government to effectively
monitor petroleum products
pipelines in order to stop the incessant
vandalism.
The Chairman of Lagos Chapter
of PENGASSAN, Mr. Folorunsho
Oginni, in a statement said that
there was need for the government
to ensure that vandals of pipelines
all over the country are brought to
book.
The Union leader stated that the advice has become necessary following
reports of contamination of
drinking water wells by petroleum
products from broken and vandalised
pipelines.
Oginni said Nigerians can no
longer fold their hands and watch
some few individuals destroying the
natural resources because they want
to enrich themselves.
He said that the government has
already admitted that over N200
billion has been lost to pipeline vandalism
in the last 10 years.
He noted that the level of pipeline vandalism and theft of
products had impacted negatively
on the socio-economic
growth of the
country, pointing out also that frequent pipeline vandalism
has affected the free
flow of petroleum products
across the country.
the Lagos state PENGASBy insecurity
in Niger Delta region
has also contributed significantly
to the instability in
the petroleum sector, explaining
that current developments
in the region might
frustrate efforts of the country
to become one of the top
oil producing countries of
the world.
Oginni therefore suggested
that effective security
should be provided to cover
the entire Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation,
NNPC, pipeline network to
curb the menace of pipeline
vandalism, and that communities
around the pipelines
be urged to be involved in
the surveillance of the petroleum
Pipelines