The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, on Monday in Abuja advised Nigerians to, in their own interest, protect petroleum pipelines located in their area.
The Corporation also condemned the renewed attack on its facilities at Arepo in Ogun State.
On Saturday, the System 2B pipeline at Arepo was again vandalised barely a month after it was fixed.
This led to an explosion that killed about 30 people.
The system 2B pipeline was vandalised in August 2012, and the NNPC had just concluded work on it when the latest attack took place.
The Acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Tumini Green, said Nigerians should protect the pipeline as “they (Nigerians) are usually at the receiving end of the hardship caused by the activities of vandals”.
Ms. Green said the corporation is appalled by the repeated attacks on the pipeline at the same spot in Arepo in Ogun.
“A similar attack on the pipeline in August last year and the difficulties the Corporation had in effecting repairs as a result of security issues caused a lot of hardship in product distribution. This was responsible for the emergence of long queues at fuel stations across the country in the last quarter of 2012,” she said.
Ms. Green said the NNPC and PPMC have already mobilised their engineers to site to effect the necessary repairs after putting out the fire.
She expressed optimism that the pipeline would be repaired soon and called on Nigerians to be vigilant and report all suspicious movements around pipelines to security agencies.
She said that the NNPC would intensify its synergy with security agencies and stakeholders to forestall the menace of vandals.
Ms. Green called on the Ogun government to work with the NNPC to protect pipelines in the state and to arrest vandals, adding that Arepo was becoming notorious for vandalism of NNPC pipelines.
The Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, had on Sunday lambasted the NNPC for its complicity in pipeline vandalism in Arepo.
Mr. Amosun sighted inadequate security infrastructure, manpower and absence of basic materials by the NNPC and security agencies for the continuous vandalisation of pipelines in Arepo.
NAN
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