Lokpobiri while addressing pipeline vandalism at a recent event, called for public-private collaboration to stop the menace
By Kehinde Okeowo
Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri has said the twin problems of petrol smuggling and pipeline vandalism will only stop when Nigeria stops selling products above landing cost and old pipelines are replaced.
He made this known in Abuja during the just-concluded Energy and Labour Summit 2024 organized by Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, where he argued that fuel theft and vandalisation of pipelines are caused by the products subsidy and corroded pipelines.
Speaking at the event, the minister said fuel smuggling from Nigeria to neighboring West African countries is striving because the Nigerian Petroleum Company Limited sells the product below the landing cost.
Lokpobiri said, “Nigeria plays a very critical role in the energy security in Africa. That is why whatever PMS we import into Nigeria finds its way to the whole of West Africa. That is why smuggling cannot stop.”
He added, “If NNPC imports PMS and sells to marketers at perhaps N600 or below, there’s no way that smuggling can stop”.
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Addressing issues relating to pipeline vandalism and the menace of oil theft, he said most of the country’s crude oil pipelines were expired.
“The reason why pipeline vandalism is very easy to do is that the pipelines have all expired; they completely corroded and so, anybody can just go and tap it and the thing is busted.
“But there are better technologies which are more expensive, there are better pipelines that other people are using in other countries, but they are not cheap, We also need to change our model”, he stated.
He, however, called for public-private partnerships to fix the old pipelines.
“That is why we have to go for the global model – PPP. We have to get the private sector to come in”, Lokpobiri further said.