Press Releases

Fashola Advocates New Ways To Solve Pipeline Vandalism

Jan 14, 2010 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Thursday called on the Federal Government to seek new ways to solve oil pipeline vandalism in the country saying the time has come to evolve modern methods to protect the pipelines.

Governor Fashola who spoke at the Lagos House Marina while playing host to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Rilwan Lukman, said the need has become more urgent because many of the areas that were rural communities and far-flung places decades ago when the pipelines were laid have become urban centres thereby exposing the pipes with the attendant dangers.

The Governor told the Minister, who was accompanied by the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Mohammed Barkindo and other top functionaries of the Ministry, “Honestly, I think we should simply move away from whose fault it is to how to really put an end to it”.

Citing the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos which, according to him, used to be in the most far-flung part of Lagos but is now in the city centre, the Governor said, “If we look at the airport as that kind of infrastructure, we need to become more creative. May be the NNPC would have to make a special case, not just for Lagos but for other parts of the country”, adding that technology has provided useful options for better encasing and protecting the pipelines.

Governor Fashola also enjoined the Minister to ensure that governments at the state level are made aware of the locations of oil pipelines and when repairs are being carried out on them in their areas of jurisdiction because, according to him, “We are the first responders when accidents happen, when emergencies occur so that we will know what is where and who is where”.

‘It is important to stress this point because it has significant healthcare implications for us. As enormous as our problems may seem, every damaged pipeline spills its contents into the grounds and that is where we extract the water we drink and our children drink”, Governor Fashola said adding that the increasing cases of cancer in the society today could be traceable to pollution of ground water by such spills.

Pledging to support the Federal Government in whatever way it seeks for an enduring solution to pipeline vandalism in the country, Governor Fashola said the pollution of underground water and consumption of chemicals that are hazardous to health by the citizenry is even a more fundamental problem than the supply of fuel adding, “It is only the living that will look for fuel; it is only the living that will buy it”.

Governor Fashola also called on the NNPC to put a regulation in place to ensure that the fuel is distributed in such an efficient manner as not to constitute a hazard to the people adding that such measures should include the quality of the trucks that load fuel at the various fuel depots across the country.

Pointing out that many of the trucks that load fuel for distribution across the country are of very low quality, the Governor declared, “I have come across information suggesting that those tanks could be welded twice and I think that from the various depots where loading takes place, NNPC, more than anybody else, is in a position to simply put those standards in place. If the truck does not meet the quality, it does not load”.

“It is a danger to the transporter himself when the trucks catch fire and explode. Lives have been lost needlessly and that is our primary duty, to protect life and to protect property”, the Governor said.

On the location of tank farms in the State, Governor Fashola stressed the need for the State Government to be informed immediately of such a plan even from the point when it is being processed adding, “We should not be the last to know because when these things explode, when accidents happen, it is the city managers, the local government chairmen who are the primary responders and if we know that it is there it will enable us purchase the right equipment to respond to the accident”.

“Accidents will happen, but if we know what is going on, we will be in a better position to prepare to save lives”, the Governor said adding that every Managing Director of NNPC that has visited the State in the past has been invited to address the situation and the present Managing Director would hopefully be the last to be given such a task.

Thanking the Minister for the visit and pledging to give the necessary support to ensure the success of the Stakeholders’ meeting of the downstream oil sector now going on in the State, the Governor also urged the Minister and the NNPC to repair the Ejigbo Road leading to the tank farm in the community not only to save life and make for more efficient distribution but also as a demonstration of good corporate social responsibility.

Earlier in his opening remarks, the Minister said his visit was to commend the Governor for the support his administration is rendering to the nation in the downstream sector of the oil industry pointing out that over 70 percent of the stakeholders in this sector are based in Lagos .

The Minster also commended the Governor on his many developmental achievements in the State and prayed that the cooperation between his administration and the Federal Government on the downstream sector would continue and be expanded.

Also present at the occasion were the Permanent Secretary in the Petroleum Ministry, Mrs. Esther Emurem, Mallam Aminu Babakuse (Group Executive Director C and I), Dr Levi Ajuonuma, Group General Manager Public Affairs NNPC, Dr. Muiz Banire, Commissioner for Environment, Mrs. Sola Oworu Special Adviser, Commerce and Industry among other top government functionaries from both the Ministry, NNPC and the Lagos State Government.