NNPC to set up security advisory council to tackle pipeline vandalism

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) at the weekend outlined plans to establish a security advisory council, which it said was aimed at bringing a lasting solution to the perennial problem of pipeline vandalism and sundry security challenges bedevilling the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Maikanti Baru, group managing director of NNPC, stated this while speaking at a visit to NNPC by the management of Media Trust Limited, according to a statement signed by Ndu Ughamadu, NNPC’s group general manager, group public affairs division.

Baru said there was need to evolve new measures to bring an end to pipeline vandalism, which is a major threat to the nation’s economy, and that the security advisory council would involve critical stakeholders, including security agencies, community leaders from the Niger Delta as well as IOCs, with a view to addressing all security and host community agitations.

“We want to passionately appeal to those behind indiscriminate acts of infrastructure vandalism to put an end forthwith to these despicable acts which are a great threat to the economy, the eco-system and energy security of the country,” the NNPC boss stated.

He said since coming on board, he had ensured that the NNPC was run as what he called “a FACTI-based corporation, meaning a Focused, Accountable, Competitive and Transparent organisation that conducts its business with integrity.”

He noted that NNPC’s monthly operational and financial reports were always in the public sphere for all to see, adding that it was this new wave of openness and transparency that has earned the NNPC rave reviews and accolades among Nigerians.

“With the consistent release of our monthly financial and operational reports, the Nigerian Extractive Industries & Transparency Initiative (NEITI) recently commended us for embracing openness, subjecting our activities to greater public scrutiny and providing real-time information about the state of the nation’s oil and gas sector,” Baru further noted.

He explained that through his “12 Business Focus Areas (BUFA),” the corporation has kick-started the implementation of policies to place itself on the path of growth and profitability.

The group managing director explained that aside increasing the nation’s oil and gas reserves to 37 billion barrels of oil and 192 trillion cubic feet of gas, respectively, NNPC had also commenced exploratory activities in the Gongola Basin, with the aim of further growing oil and gas reserves and taking advantage of low oil prices that make inland exploration cost effective.