Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday described pipeline vandals in the Niger Delta as 'terrorists', who should be 'severely dealt with' and not tolerated.
The vice president made the comment in Warri after visiting the strategic gas pipeline at Forcados export terminal in Burutu council area of Delta State.
Professor Osinbajo, who advocated that all Nigerians must support President Muhammadu Buhari's resolve to give the Boko Haram treatment to oil and gas facilities and pipelines vandals, noted that the January 14, 2016, sabotage on the pipeline at Forcados has resulted to the unprecedented power cuts that had been experienced in recent times.
"As you know, pipelines vandals are probably as bad as any type of terrorists or saboteurs and the danger posed to lives caused by pipelines vandals. All of us must agree with the president that the vandals must be treated with the most severe manner and should not be tolerated at all.
"So, I agree entirely that pipelines vandals should not be tolerated under no circumstances.
"Aside from the gas problem, there is also the problem of losing thousands of barrels of production. We are not able to produce as much as we ought to. About 250,000 barrels are lost per day. We are losing large sums of money daily. We look for alternative, while we look to repair the pipelines.
"We would have to deploy even sophisticated weapons to ensure we contain the vandalism, overhaul security and permanent pipeline security force might also be an option to look at.
"The damage done has led to low supply of gas and most of the power plants are not functioning at maximum capacity," Osinbajo said.
Delta State governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, who was on the Vice President's entourage to the site, said works were on with the repairs, which completion date had been tentatively put to the end of May this year.
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