After about 16 years of inactivity, pumping of petroleum products has returned to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) deports in Aba, the Abia State capital.
This was disclosed to The Guardian at the weekend, by the Executive Director of UTM Offshore Ltd, Kennedy Azodeh, whose company is engaged in the surveillance and security of the over 209 kilometers oil pipeline right-of-way from Port Harcourt to Enugu.
According to him, petroleum supply to the area, which had been suspended due to pipeline vandalism, resumed two week ago, with about five million liters of petroleum products successfully pumped to the deports.
Azodeh, who attributed the resumption of operations to the relentless efforts of his company, in collaboration with the joint military task force, police and vigilante groups, claimed that 70 percent of pipeline vandalism has been curtailed by his company so far.
He assured that it would be further eliminated, if relevant laws were put in place and effectively enforcement.
The security expert lamented that often times when arrests are made, the culprits are let off the hook, on the condition that the offence committed is bailable.
He suggested that offenders be tried as economic saboteurs, because their offence “is worse than armed robbery, and prompt and deterring punishment ought to be imposed on the culprits, especially when they get caught in the act,’ noting that ‘when this is not so done, vandalism persists.”
Azodeh iterated that if the pipelines are secured the way his company and five others are currently doing, regular pumping of products through the pipelines, rather than use of road tankers to transport them, would make the products readily available.
“It will also reduce the price at which the products are being sold to the public, especially as any kobo spent on transporting the products by road, which takes longer time, would be added to the final cost of the products.”
