Activities of petrol pipeline vandals have resulted in the country loosing a whopping N150.5bn in revenue in eight years
According to a report by the Petroleum Product Marketing Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, 12,770 cases of vandalisation were recorded between 2000 to 2007.
The report, which was forwarded to the National Assembly, was obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday
It said the highest number of vandalisation was in 2006 with 3,674 cases and that Nigeria lost N36.646bn in the process.
The heaviest loss of N42.102bn occured in 2005 from 2, 2237 cases of vandalization.
Further details showed that N10.121bn was lost in 2000 to 984 cases.
In 2001, pipelines were vandalised 461 times with the country losing N3.867bn and N7.971bn in 2002 to 516 cases.
In 2003, it was 779 cases with N12.986bn loss in revenue and in 2004, 895 cases were recorded, resulting in N19.66bn loss.
According to the document, N17.24bn was lost in 2007 to 3224 cases of vandalisation.
The PPMC has 5,120-kilometre pipeline distribution network, with 22 storage depots and 24 pump stations across the country.
It attributed the high level of vandalisation of its pipelines to political and socio-economic reasons; most of which occur in the Niger Delta.
The PPMC said the way out of the problem was to �repair and rehabilitate crude oil supply pipeline from escravos to Kaduna .�
This recipe, it noted, involved the phase one aspect which began in October 2007. It is due for completion December 2008.
Phase two of the pipeline repairs is targeted at Atlas Cove and associated pumping facilities; which according to its schedule started in January 2008 and would end in June 2009.
The repairs of the 210-kilometre Port-Harcourt-Aba-Enugu pipeline and the Enugu-Auchi, Enugu- Markurdi-Yola pipelines under the phase three programme are expected to be completed in 2009.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association has, however, decried the spate of vandalisation of product pipelines.
IPMAN President, Mr. Tunde Runsewe, in a submission to the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum, said pipeline vandalisation �had led to the non-functioning of many depots in the country.�
Runsewe said, � In the North zones, no depot is functioning except Kaduna , which just commenced skeletal work recently.
�There seems to be no effective anti-vandalisation programme on the part of the Federal Government/PPMC to check or control the menace.�
Vandalisation of pipelines became a major national issue on July 10, 2000 when about 250 villagers were killed in Jesse, Delta State , while scooping fuel from vandalised pipes.
Also, on November 30, 2000 a ruptured petrol pipeline caught fire near the fishing village of Ebute near Lagos , killing at least 60 people.
Similarly, on June 19, 2003 � oil theft led to the explosion of pipelines, in a village near Umuahia, Abia State.About 125 people died in the process.
On September 17, 2004, dozens of people were killed in a pipeline explosion in Lagos after thieves tried to siphon petrol belonging to the NNPC.
A pipeline explosion at Inagbe Beach on the outskirts of Lagos killed more than 250 people in May 12, 2006.
On December 26, 2006, about 269 bodies were where recovered from the scene of pipeline fire in Abule Egba, a suburb of Lagos.