Petroleum minister uncovers massive oil bunkering depot in Lagos
Also at the location were tools used by the oil thieves to perforate oil pipelines, and kegs used to store the product.
The minister of petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has uncovered a massive oil bunkering depot, far away in the Atlas cove area, around the Roberts Island in Lagos state precisely.
According to Channels Television, the minister said "I must say that I was very disillusion to find this discovery but much as I was happy that it was found, it just took a lot of wind off my sail in the sense of what next and who knows how many more have not been discovered.
"At the end of the day, the responsibility for protecting the assets of Nigerians must lie in the hands of Nigerians. There is no magic that I have that I am going to be able to deliver zero incident environment, given the number of attacks we are getting everywhere but at the end of the day, communities like these ones must begin to rise up and say this is just not right."
Also at the location were tools used by the oil thieves to perforate oil pipelines, and kegs used to store the product.
The Nigerian Navy also discovered an illegal bunkering site at the Federal government-owned Ship Builders Yard in Port Harcourt.
Meanwhile, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has announced the increase of the price of household Kerosene from N50 to N83.
Vandalism: FG may acquire Tarkwa Bay, Kachikwu warns community
By Ediri Ejoh
Minister of State for Petroleum Resource, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, yesterday warned indigenes of Tarkwa Bay, host to the Atlas Cove Jetty, Nigeria's biggest petroleum products reception, that the community was at risk of possible acquisition by the Federal Government, if they continued to shield pipeline vandals and oil thieves.
Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, GMD, NNPCThe minister, who issued the warning when he paid an unscheduled visit to the area, said: "We will take over the community if such activities persist," and also told the community that they were also culpable in the criminal activities going on in the location.
Kachikwu, who expressed concern over the dilapidation of the national asset, noted that the jetty had assumed a prime spot for both local and international bunkering by vandalising the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC's pipelines bearing refined petroleum products running across the island.
The Minister, who also doubles as the Group Managing Director, GMD, NNPC, took a tour of the community and was taken aback by the level of the illegal activities being perpetuated by vandals for their own personal gains at the expence of majority Nigerians.
During the tour, it was discovered that practically everyone in the community was involved in the illicit trade, as every hut or shanty visited was filled with loads of 50 litre jerry cans, with holes pierced through the pipelines to siphon products meant to be transported to other jetties and depots for onward distribution in the market.
He said: "What I have seen here today is amazing, very frustrating and an eye opener for the problem we are facing. I don't think Nigerians understand the magnitude of the problems at hand; the more solution you bring in the more problems show up.
"This is a massive operation as you can see, it like a moving train where you can move two to three trucks using jerry cans and transport them through the water to different countries. This is a good discovery but the question is, how many more of this do we have to deal with? It is an eye opener but it's very frustrating."
He said the discovery of the hide-outs was made possible by the efforts of the extra security put in place by the government.
Noting that there was no immediate solution at hand, in view of the magnitude of the criminal activities, he however said solutions were a long term.
NNPC discovers fuel theft base in Lagos
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, on Monday said the business of illegal oil bunkering in the country was being driven by Nigerians.
Kachikwu, who doubles as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, stated this during a visit to an illegal oil bunkering site at Robert-Victor village, popularly called 'Idi Mango' offshore Lagos.
At the community, where the Atlas Cove pipelines run through, many stacks of jerry cans were found allegedly being used by illegal bunkers to smuggle petroleum products out of the country through the Atlantic Ocean.
Eight suspected vandals comprising three Nigerians, three Ghanaians, one Togolese and one Beninoise were arrested by the private pipeline surveillance security outfit employed by the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, a subsidiary of the NNPC, to monitor and patrol oil pipelines.
Kachikwu, who described the development as very frustrating, said, "This is a massive operation as you can see. This is like moving 200 to 300 trucks through jerry cans back into the water to different countries like Ghana and Togo.
"This is a good discovery. But how many more of this do we have? We don't know. It is an eye-opener for us. But it is very frustrating."
On what steps should be taken, the minister said, "I wish I have an immediate solution to this. I have got to think through the statistics of the discovery and come up with some solutions. But clearly, a lot more needs to be done.
"We discovered this through the efforts of our contractors, our security personnel and all that, but a lot more effort, obviously, needs to go into securing this sort of places. The difficulty you have is that the more you secure one, the more others are opened. The solutions are long-term; it is not just an issue of sealing up a place. We have got to go back and think holistically about what to do, for example, on the pipelines."
According to the minister, the issue of saving Nigerian assets is not the responsibility of the NNPC and security forces alone, but that every citizen.
He said, "The country has massive problems and Nigerians have got to start realising that the solutions to Nigeria's problems are Nigerians. Nigerians set up all these stuffs. Nigerians make it work. Even if we say that they are Ghanaians and Togolese, but they are coming here through the instrumentation of Nigerians, who are the kingpins.
"So, all of us have got to become vigilant, play our own due role in being honest to the country and feeling a sense of responsibility to the nation."
According to the security outfit, 20 vehicles were confiscated from the vandals, with over 1,000 jerry cans filled with petroleum products, as well as pipeline bursting equipment and several generators.
The suspected vandals have been kept in the custody of the Nigerian Naval Base, Western Command, Apapa while awaiting further interrogation.
[Punch]
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