MODALITIES for laying petroleum products pipelines in the country are to be reviewed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
When the exercise is completed, the corporation will ensure that pipelines are deeply buried and covered by concrete to prevent easy access to the facilities.
This was disclosed by NNPC Group Managing Director, Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua, in Lagos at the weekend during the inspection of the damage caused by the pipeline explosion at the Ijegun, last Thursday.
Yar’Adua said the mechanism used in the drawing and laying of the NNPC right-of-way for petroleum products’ pipelines was below international standards.
He said that the thinking of the government officials then was that people would not intrude into the NNPC’s right-of-way for commercial activities and buildings.
Last Thursday, a pipeline fire caused by a human error led to the death of several residents and school children. The fire destroyed property worth millions of naira.
Yar’Adua said: “I don’t know whether the drawing of the NNPC right-of-way for the burying of pipelines was good enough. It seemed to me that the private company handling this road didn’t bother about the safety of the people living here because we lost many lives. May their gentle souls rest in peace. Amen.”
On the way the pipelines were buried, he said: “There is some consideration and of course, we are doing something. In short, part of it, is in the process of approval. We believe that it was safe at the time we were laying these pipelines. I think the assumption was that Nigerians were very disciplined people. We thought that nobody would be encouraged to tamper with the pipelines because of the safety measures but we didn’t learn our lessons well because all over the world, really, you put this pipe deep down so that nobody can reach them. But not only digging them deep inside the ground but also you cover them with heavy concrete. So that before someone could get close to the concrete, it would take him time but unfortunately that has not been the case. The thinking then was that we were peaceful and disciplined people and nobody would go near the facilities but we can see that the situation has changed.
“If you go to the eastern axis, from Aba to Enugu, I can tell you that all the pipelines there have been tampered with. That is why we cannot even deliver petroleum products through the pipelines there,” he said.
The NNPC chief appealed to people that have violated the NNPC right-of-way to quit the area, warning that they were sitting on a time-bomb that could still explode any time.
Yar’Adua said that he was at the scene of the incident to commiserate with the families of the victims.
He added that arrangements had been concluded by the NNPC management to bring financial succour to the victims.
The NNPC boss said that the corporation would partner with the Lagos State government on how to reward the families of the victims.
Meanwhile, some survivors of the disaster have expressed their gratitude to the Lagos State government for the assistance given to them.
The survivors, who were interviewed at their temporary resettlement centre thanked Governor Babatunde Fashola for the efforts of his administration to make them comfortable in their temporary abode.
Fielding questions from journalists during a tour of the area, one of the survivors, Mrs. Ben Adebowale, confirmed that the state government had deployed enough resources to make them comfortable.
In a statement yesterday, the Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Hakeem Bello, quoted Adebowale as saying: “Please help me to thank them (the government) and also the governor. God will bless him. They have been taking care of me here since Thursday. God will bless the governor. His light will never go off.”
Narrating her ordeal and how she survived the inferno, Mrs. Adebowale, who said she lived close to the Isolo Comprehensive School, recalled: “I was boiling water to bath my child who was playing outside when I heard another child outside shouting, ‘Mama, Mama, fire, fire.’
“As I ran out to see what was happening, I saw the fire coming towards us. I quickly picked up my child and ran to safety. But as I ran, it was like the fire was coming after me. At a point when I was about to give up, a young man from nowhere just stopped his car and opened the door for my child and myself. That was how we escaped. I thank God for saving my life,” she said.