[size=18pt]Nigerian Army, NNPC pledge partnership on pipeline security[/size]


Thursday, 23 December 2010




The Nigerian Army and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have pledged to collaborate to bring to an end the incessant vandalism of petroleum products pipelines across the country, especially in the Niger Delta region.

The Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Mr Austen Oniwon, noted with dismay that the recurring damage of oil pipelines by vandals had impacted negatively on the operations of the country’s refineries.

Oniwon stated this, on Tuesday, when he led top management of the NNPC to pay a courtesy visit on the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Azubuike Ihejirika, at the Nigerian Army headquarters in Abuja.

He implored the Chief of Army Staff to particularly deploy his men to step up surveillance on the crude pipeline from Bonny to Port Harcourt refinery and the Escravos pipeline to Warri and Kaduna refinery, saying that the refineries had been shut down temporarily because all the pipelines had been severed.

“The rate of the crude pipeline vandalisation from Bonny to Port Harcourt refinery and the Escravos to Warri and Kaduna refinery is alarming and I wish to request the Army to concentrate on these pipelines as they are critical to our operations,” Oniwon stated.

The GMD further sued for more collaboration with the Army in the area of engineering and applauded the Army for maintaining a high standard of work in some of the contracts it was handling for the corporation.

The NNPC helmsman reiterated the commitment of the corporation to the existing mutual relationship between the NNPC and the Army and asserted that the relationship would help the duo to meet its primary obligations to the country.


http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/15140-nigerian-army-nnpc-pledge-partnership-on-pipeline-security