Oil pipelines

Linda Eroke

Workers in the nation’s oil and gas industry have condemned the killings of three members of staff of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) by pipeline vandals at Arepo, Ogun State.

Speaking under the umbrella of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), the workers called on the Federal Government to tighten security around oil pipelines criss-crossing the nooks and crannies of the country.

Reacting to the killings of members, PENGASSAN President, Mr. Babatunde Ogun, expressed dissatisfaction over government’s inept attitude to the security of the personnel sent to repair the pipelines, noting that the same vandals had attacked PPMC staff and journalists, who had gone on an assessment visit to the site of the vandalised pipeline when it was first reported.

Ogun said PENGASSAN had directed its members not to make any further attempt to repair the pipelines until their safety and security was guaranteed.

He charged security agencies to immediately arrest the perpetrators of the heinous crime and charge them for murder warning that the union would not hesitate to order a “Stop Work for Safety” on members in PPMC if the killers are not apprehended within the next one month.

“Government should have known that the pipeline was damaged by criminals, who daringly vandalise national infrastructures and would go to any length to protect their illicit activity. Government should have provided adequate security for workers sent to that area. The management of the company should not have sent the workers to that point without adequate security.

“We have repeatedly challenged government on the need to justify their security votes by providing security of lives and property of all Nigerians. A situation where government seems to have yielded space to all forms of criminals and terrorist to abridge the right to life of Nigerians is simply and totally unacceptable,” Ogun said.