PENGASSAN charges govt on oil theft, vandalisation

KAYODE ADELOWOKAN

Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has called on the Federal government to muster the necessary will to check oil theft and pipe vandalisation that has been a drain in the country’s resources.

Speaking in Lagos on the menace of oil theft and pipe vandalisation, PENGASSAN President, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, condemned the two criminal acts, describing it as an act of economic sabotage.

He said that the union condemned the two heinous acts among other issues discussed during the last National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union on April 4, 2013, in Calabar, Cross Rivers State;

“During our NEC in Calabar, we condemned the increasing level of pipeline vandalisation and the attendant crude oil and petroleum products theft and the apparent complicity of the security agencies as completely unacceptable.

“Pipe vandalisation and the attendant crude oil and petroleum products theft constitute not just a drain on the nation’s resources but also a major environmental hazard as well as threat to our democracy and national security,” he stated.

The union president also advised the various oil companies operating in the country and government to invest in modern technologies to reduce to the barest minimum, if not eliminate, the incidence of pipe vandalisation and crude oil and petroleum products theft .

On deregulation, Comrade Ogun condemned government’s surreptitious moves to further increase the prices of petroleum products under the guise of deregulation, reiterating PENGASSAN’s long standing position that deregulation could not be import-driven and that the legal foundation and appropriate environment must be in place before the government engages all stakeholders on the issue.

He called on the government to put in place machinery to restore crude oil supply to the Port-Harcourt Refinery as well as resolve the haulage challenges being faced by the Warri Refinery in order to ensure that these refineries run optimally and reduce the nation’s dependence on imported products.

Expressing concern at the continuous underfunding of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and government share of its Joint Venture (JV) Obligations, the PENGASSAN President said that the underfunding  is impacting negatively on the operational efficiency of these agencies.

He, therefore, called on the government to without delay address the underfunding of these agencies and also allowed the DPR to retain a certain percentage of the funds it generates in order to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness

He further called on the government to adequately fund its share of the JV obligation in order to boost production and reserves, adding that the JV is major revenue earner for the country by producing about 60.5% of Nigeria’s daily production.