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… As Government is Urged to Take Lead in Prosecution of Illegal Bunkerers
By Godwin Chukwumaechi
Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd, PINL last week embarked on a three-day community sensitisation of communities in some of the zones under it area of coverage in its pipeline surveillance contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL)
The exercise was conducted in conjunction with Inter Atlas, the project management office for the Operation Plug, and government security agencies comprising the army, navy and Nigerian Civil Defense and Security Corps, NSCDC.
Inter Atlas represents NNPCL to coordinate and oversee the operations of the Private Security Companies.
While the PINL team was led by its Operations Manager, Femi Alake, the government security agencies GSAs were under the command of Colonel Fidelis Ude, and Inter Atlas team led by Michael, the Corridor Lead of the company.
The exercise, a massive operation of security and other trucks numbering over 30 saw the personnel of the various organisations cris-crossing communities of zones 3, 5, 6 and 8 operations area of PINL with public address system mounted on the truck, stopping intermittently at strategic points to address community people on the security and environmental implications of pipeline vandalism and oil theft. Various sizes of handbills with campaigns against oil theft were also distributed in thesome strategic community markets.
Some of the flash point communities visited include Rukpoku, Rumuji, Rumuekpe, Ibaa, Ikata, Owaza, Odogwa, Egbema and other communities spanning the three states of Abia, Imo and Rivers.
The message on the handbills reads; “Crude oil theft destroys our land, say no to crude oil theft in Nigeria”; “Stop crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism, offenders will be arrested and jailed”. They also contain with some telephone numbers to encourage whistle blowers to report offenders.
At the various stop over points, community persons were co-opted to translate the message to the people. While warning against the illegal acts of vandalism and oil theft, they were also reminded that the law would not spare anyone caught in the act and at the same time encourage them to report any of such offenders, promising them handsome reward for every of such credible report.
At Umuololo Community in Owaza kingdom, Abia state, the youths could not hide their anger and disappointment with the government over the neglect of their area despite the high volume of crude oil extracted from their land and numerous oil facilities the area hosts. They demanded employment for the youths, good roads, electricity and other amenities which were clearly lacking in the area whose only major road is the one leading to the oil facilities in their land.
A community chief, Chukwuemeka Chibundu who was on hand to speak on behalf of the community re-echoed the complaints of the youths and advised that government should raise its game in its relationship with the communities as an incentive to the youths against vandalism and oil theft.
He added that the companies involved in the oil and security business should also sensitise their staff who he accused of being active participants in the nefarious act.
Similar reactions were received from many of the communities where the team made stop overs to address the people. Most of the communities were unhappy and frustrated by the negligence of the government of their communities as most of them lacked basic amenities.
Speaking on the essence of the sensitisation campaign, Femi Alake, Operations Director, Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd PINL said “the aim of the exercise is a show of force to serve as deterrent for all perpetrators of nefarious activities around the pipelines especially the Eastern corridor”.
Also speaking, the Corridor Lead, Inter Atlas who gave his name simply as Charles corroborated Alake that the exercise was conducted as show of force to the communities. “We are actually visiting places where we are still having issues. The idea is to show force, to show that we are on ground and also try to feel the pulse of the communities, what they want in terms of what we can achieve in terms of community development. Also, sensitisation, to let them to know the effects of pipeline vandalism and effects on the environment and their communities also”.
He added that the aim was to continue to raise terminal receipts at loading terminals until losses through vandalism and oil theft is totally eliminated.
The Corridor Lead, Inter Atlas explained the assessment of the impact of the sensitisation exercise would be determined by the terminal receipts in the nearest future.
He said; “Our achievements are actually measured in terms of Key Performance Indices (KPI), that is we measure our achievements in terms of terminal receipts that we receive at the loading terminal. So far in comparison from where we started from, we have done quite okay but there’s is still room for a lot of improvement”.
He however, he added that federal government also has some responsibilities to ensure the aim of the exercise is achieved.
“But also, there’s certain aspects that have to do with government intervention. Where government has to take lead role in terms of prosecution. Those areas have not actually been attended to. Many of these bunkerers are arrested and are ultimately released by the police, which also endangers the security companies that we have on ground. You can imagine, arresting someone from your community that was involved in oil bunkering and after one week, the police have released the person. That doesn’t just endanger the security personnel, it also dampens their morale to see that somebody who was arrested is released without prosecution. So that aspect of prosecution is something government has to pay attention to.
“Because if you see the trend now we have moved from massive illegal refinery to very small ones. They just bring it out from their rooms, do small cooking in the night and they can dismantle everything and hide back in their house. So, the easiest way to curb this trend now is actually to work with the communities, get intelligence from these communities. But you cannot get intelligence when you keep releasing these culprits after they’re being arrested. So, we are also looking at government to do a lot when it comes to dispensation of justice for arrested persons”.