Oil Pipeline Vandalism

The importance of oil to the economy of Nigeria cannot be ever-emphasised. The Nigerian economy is wholly dependent on revenue from oil. Without this, the economy will definitely be grounded and the nation will be worse off because no country can move forward without money. It is therefore worrying to observe that while some citizens of this country are busy protecting the oil facilities, others are seriously at work vandalising the oil facilities. This should be condemned by all well-meaning members of  Nigeria.

According to reports, about fifteen persons including one hundred year-old man and a ten-year old girl were arrested by soldiers in Atlas Cove, Lagos for vandalising oil pipelines and illegal sale of stolen fuel. More than 200,000 litres of petroleum products were also recovered from the arrested persons. The arrest was made when a joint military task force patrolling the Island smashed the syndicate which had been operating in the area for years. Speaking later the General officer Commanding 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Eugene Nwanguma described the incident as, shocking and disgusting.

Also speaking, the Area Manager in charge of the Lagos Operations of the Pipeline and products marketing company, Mr Felix Nwono, said the Bandits had camped at Roberts Village on the Island from where they siphoned fuel from the pipeline during product pumping activities. He revealed that security team caught the suspects while they were filling thousands of plastic containers from a hose connected to a valve installed on the Lagos-Mosimi products transmission pipeline. Mr Nwono said the hose was concealed under the beach which hid it from the pipeline and products marketing company monitoring and security patrol teams. He further revealed that the suspects had attempted scaring away the military patrol team by launching gun attack on an approaching van. According to him, this led to a shoot-out and eventual arrest of the vandals. Leader of the patrol team Major Dennis Dokubo pointed out that residents of the area disappeared after the arrest of the suspects which showed that the crime had wider implications. This happened in September, 2009.

As already noted, while good citizens of this country are struggling to ensure that Nigeria progresses, others are busy making sure that the country falls into bottomless abyss. Their main objective is to vandalise oil facilities such as oil pipelines and scoop oil spilling from the vandalised pipes and sell same in neighbouring countries such as Benin Republic. In fact, severe punishment should be meted out to those involved in this criminal act. It should be noted that their activities are economic sabotage. No nation tolerates economic saboteurs. Therefore, those found guilty of oil pipeline vandalism should be given adequate punishment as stated above. We all are aware that without oil Nigeria will be wretched. Therefore those sabotaging a resource that touches on the well-being of this nation should not be spared. There should be no sacred cow in this. Nobody should be bigger than the law of the land.

Not long ago, forty-three dead bodies resulting from oil pipeline explosion were given a mass burial at a scene in Et-Osa Local Government Area of  Lagos State. The explosion occurred in Abagbo village near Lagos. The victims were alleged to be scooping oil from vandalised oil pipelines when the explosion occurred, the dead included men, women and children. According to reports, vandals had cut open a section of the pipeline ferrying refined petroleum products from the Atlas Cove Jetty, Lagos to depots in South-West part of the country and stolen large quantities of the products. Some saw the vandalised oil pipeline and decided to scoop the oil that was rushing out ‘without regard to the danger involved. All these took place in December, 2007.

In May, 2006, a similar incident at the same scene took the lives of one hundred and fifty, people who were scooping oil from a vandalized oil pipeline. However, speaking in this connection, a spokesman of the Lagos State Government, Dr Jide Idris said the victims were given the mass burial in order to prevent epidemics in the affected area. He added that health officials had commenced the fumigation of the affected coast line. The spokesman appealed to the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to encase the pipelines. He warned villagers and Lagos resident’s to desist from vandalised pipelines.

In any case, those who have made it their duty to be vandalising oil pipelines should desist from the criminal behavior. There is nothing meaningful to be gained from such acts. Such acts will only result in great economic loss to the nation. And when that happens the country will be wretched. Meanwhile, all those found guilty of economic sabotage should be punished adequately.

Dr Tolofari is Fellow, Institute of Corporate Administration of Nigeria, Abuja.

Mann Tolofari