Nigerian Union Calls for Action After Pipeline Vandals Cause $1.05 Billion in Losses in Four Years

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Nigeria's Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) reported that it had lost $1.05 billion over the last four years due to pipeline vandalism. Losses include the cost of repairs and product theft. Haruna Momoh, managing director of the company, said that vandalism and product theft across the country had become a recurring national embarrassment.

Vandals at Arepo, in the Ogun state, have become notorious in their operations and have attacked PPMC personnel with guns and other dangerous weapons on a number of occasions, preventing the repair of the damaged pipeline, Momoh said.

The PPMC has continually engaged various state governments and communities on the effective policing of the pipeline right of way. The PPMC says that only a committed state government would ensure the protection of pipelines within their jurisdiction, ensuring smooth distribution of petroleum product across the country.

A total of 76 fire incidents were recorded in 2012, and more than 86% of these incidents were caused by vandals along the pipeline right of way. Toward the middle of January, pipelines were vandalized at Arepo and more than 10 people were killed. The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has implored the federal government to create a pipeline protection agency in the country.

Isaac Aberare, the NUPENG acting secretary general, said in Lagos that the agency should be vested with the responsibility of manning, protecting and providing security for the more than 5,150 kilometers of oil pipelines spread across the country.

"The federal government should also equip the agency with helicopter gun-ships, gun-boats and specially trained men and women to police the pipeline in the country, because the present arrangement of using the Nigeria's Civil Defense Corps has not yielded any positive results and the country continues to lose billions of crude and refined products to vandals, and lose the lives of its citizenry," he said.

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