Wed, 11/07/2012 ? 1:38am | JULIET ALOHAN Labour Matters Business
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Andrew Yakubu, has appealed to oil and gas pipelines host communities to form a reliable ring of protection around them to prevent vandalism and products theft.
He made the plea during the re-commissioning ceremony of the Pipelines and Product Marketing (PPMC) Depot in Osisioma near Aba in Abia State on Monday.
Yakubu informed that the focus of his administration would be the rehabilitation of vital downstream infrastructure to make petroleum products available to Nigerians in every nook and cranny of the country at lower cost.
?I call on Abia people, especially Aba youths, to be guardian angels to secure the pipeline and depot facility. You should all be security conscious and ensure that the depot remains open to drive the local economy,? the GMD implored.
He pledged to champion the construction of critical gas infrastructure to make gas available for power generation and industries to revive Aba as an industrial hub, while thanking stakeholders in cluding the Abia State government and traditional rulers who provided logistics for securing the 58km pipeline from Port Harcourt to Aba.
In his remarks, Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji, charged the people to be the eyes and ears of government and report every illegal movement around the pipelines to security agents.
He said he would propose a bill to the State House of Assembly to make pipeline vandalism, oil theft and similar economic crimes capital offences that attract the death penalty to deter would-be oil thieves.
