The federal government, yesterday, raised the alarm over the increasing rate at which oil thieves are vandalising oil pipelines in the country, alleging that it is targeted at crippling power supply in order to plunge the country into darkness.
This is in spite of the oil pipeline contracts awarded to companies owned by ex-militants for securing water ways and oil pipelines shortly before the 2015 polls by the federal government.
Widespread criticisms had trailed President Goodluck Jonathan’s approval of the contracts, following speculations that the presidency has directed the Police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to leave the job for the companies awarded the contract by the federal government.
The minister of power, Prof Chinedu Nebo, yesterday, decried the increasing activities of vandals which he said was the main cause of the epileptic power supply for the past weeks. Nebo, who briefed journalists after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, alongside his information counterpart, Mrs Patricia Akwashiki, regretted that the Nigerian Gas Company spends a minimum of N120 million to fix gas pipeline on a monthly basis.
He said, “The past three weeks have been horrible because both the east and west are affected and as a result, the gas that is available is too small. Many of the turbines are sitting there idle. Many of the power companies generating hve 30 per cent capacity. It is not that this government has not done much; it has. Available capacity exceeds 5,500 megawatts (mw), willing capacity exceeds 5,000mw but today we are down between 2,000 and 3,000mw because of these repairs.
“So these are the real reasons we have power outage nationwide. We apologise for that but again it is our own nationals that are doing this to Nigeria.”
When asked about security measures put in place to contain the vandals, Nebo said, “The government has been working very hard to make sure that a system is developed digitally to make sure these things are minimised.”
Creating a helpless picture of the activities of vandals across the country, the minister said, “I have never in my life seen anything as frustrating as what we are experiencing today. Every month the Nigerian Gas Company spends a minimum of N120 million to fix gas pipeline. Every two weeks, the western and eastern axis pipelines are vandalised and that is oil theft.”
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