Pipeline bombing: FG directs Ijaw communities to hand over suspects

As N-Delta groups warn against indiscriminate arrests

By Emma Amaize & Simon Ebegbulem

WARRI—THE PRESIDENCY, weekend, asked Ijaw communities in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area, Delta State, where ex-militants carried out a three-day bombing of crude oil and gas pipelines some weeks ago, to hand over to the security operatives, perpetrators of the bomb attack believed to be hiding in their areas.

The presidency also urged the communities not to entertain fear of bombardment by security agencies, but to demonstrate patriotism by handing over  suspects behind the recent bombing.

The Presidential directive came through the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, yesterday, just as the JTF, which boasted, penultimate week, that it was closing in on the perpetrators, started arresting more suspects for interrogation at the weekend.

The crackdown on the suspected bombers by the task force heightened tension in most Ijaw communities with some leaders, the Ijaw Youth Council, Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative, IPDI and others, calling on the government and task force to be lawful in their action.

Adesina said: “Ijaw communities need not fear. What they can rather do is to hand over culprits hiding in their midst to the authorities. If they have identified those who blew up pipelines, and who are taking refuge in their communities, as good citizens, they should hand them over to law enforcement agents.

“Ijaws are Nigerians and good ones too. They should not allow a little leaven to destroy the whole lump. Rather, they should demonstrate patriotism by giving up evildoers. Such exists everywhere, and the onus is on good people not to shelter them.

“There are rules of engagement for every operation, and you can be sure that the Nigerian military will do what is right,” he stated.

Spurning suggestion that the Presidency was out to disgrace ex-MEND leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, because of his alleged closeness to former president Goodluck Jonathan, he said: “The question of anybody being humiliated due to closeness to the former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan does not exist.

“This is not a vengeful government, and right on inauguration day, President Muhammadu Buhari had indicated that nobody needs fear that he would be out for vengeance. In his National Day broadcast on October 1 last year, the President also said people should not be afraid of his person, but fear the consequences of their actions. Therefore, nobody should fear humiliation on account of being close to anybody, as long as such person has clean hands.”

On whether the Federal Government was looking into the allegation by Tompolo that some chieftains of the All Progressives Congress, APC, were behind the bombing, he said:  “The Presidency should not be looking into allegations, when already security agencies have been empowered and positioned to do so. Anybody can claim anything, and the President has too much on his hands to allow such to constitute distraction.”

According to him, “every Nigerian is the same, no matter his status or standing. If anybody says there is attempt to rope him into anything, the security agencies are there to establish the truth. When the President said he belonged to everybody, it meant that a level playing field would be created for all Nigerians.”

Responding to the call for political solution to the Tompolo face-off with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and his linkage to the bombing, he said: “The President will always be open to dialogue and finding of political solutions. That was why he said the government was ready to dialogue with Boko Haram, if the authentic leadership was determined. With respect to the Niger Delta, the same will subsist, but it would not translate to condoning sheer criminality.”

He, however, pointed out that “if anybody has committed a crime, he must be ready to answer for it. Being open to political solution does not mean indulging criminality. Do not forget, people must always be ready for the consequences of their actions. It is only natural.”

Commenting on the widespread allegation that the EFCC had acquired a bad image with its handling of suspects, he said: “EFCC allegedly having a bad image is your opinion. It does not mean you are correct.”

Authoritative sources confided in Vanguard, yesterday, that the JTF has made remarkable progress in the arrest of some suspects connected with the pipelines bombing, but it was not willing to make public comments on its investigations so far.

We can’t speak on arrests now- JTF spokesman

Spokesperson for Operation Pulo Shield, Col Isa Ado, who spoke on phone to Vanguard took time to explain that it was detrimental for the task force to disclose the arrests it had made.

He said the mandate of the task force was to protect crude oil and gas pipelines in the Niger Delta region and because of the recent bombings, it has intensified its operations more than ever before.

Col Ado said: “Please, we do not want to make comments until the operation to fish out the perpetrators is over.  Statements will jeopardize our investigation, but what I can tell you is that we are in hot pursuit of them and we have made tremendous progress.”

He said the oil and gas facilities were very critical to the economy of the country and the task force would stop at nothing to smoke out the bombers, who he described as saboteurs.

Ijaw groups demand proper investigation

IYC spokesperson, Mr. Eric Omare, told Vanguard when contacted, yesterday: “I heard that some Ijaw youths were arrested but I do no not know their identities. In line with our condemnation of the act, we want the culprits brought to book.

“However, we want to warn against arresting innocent people, whoever is being arrested must be a product of proper investigation and the rule of law should be followed.”

An Ijaw leader claimed that security officials arrested an aide to a local government chairman in the state, last Thursday, in Warri, as soon as he came back from a trip to Port-Harcourt and whisked to an unknown destination, while the Navy picked up another suspect the previous day, Wednesday.

IPDI  alleges siege on Tompolo family

National president of IPDI, Austin Ozobo, cautioned the military against arresting innocent members of Tompolo family and ex-agitators, saying the group would sue the military in ECOWAS Court and International Criminal Court if it violates fundamental human rights in Gbaramatu kingdom.

He said that a member of the Tompolo family was one of those arrested and called for his release, saying, “he and others are being blackmailed because being a member of the Tompolo family should not form the basis for arrest and they are just being implicated by enemies of Tompolo, who are hellbent to humiliate the family.”

Ozobo asserted, “The assumption by security agents  that every member of Tompolo family and Ijaw nation is a militant is a dangerous and such is a big threat to the peace coexistence of Nigeria as a nation,”

His words, “Meanwhile, we no regrets over being Ijaws and I know that one being a member of Tompolo family does not constitute a crime. We know that betrayers and informants are behind this, but they should not members of Tompolo family and innocent agitators to danger”

“It is unfair to blackmail someone because of his or her strong positions on the current issues in the media. After all, Tompolo is not linked to the current bombings,” he added.

Pipeline bombing: FG directs Ijaw communities to hand over suspects

Urhobo Militant group claims responsibility for Delta pipeline explosion

An Urhobo militant group, Urhobo Gbagbako, on Friday claimed responsibility for Thursday night’s bombing of the NPDC Oil pipelines at Ighrenene, Afiesere and Ekiugbo communities in Delta State.

The group, which made the claims in an email sent to some reporters, said it is also planning to shut down all the oil fields in Urhobo and Isoko areas.

The email signed by the group’s s spokesperson, Priest Omodjuvwu, said the bombing of the Ekiugbo/Ighrenene/Afiesere was to draw attention to the neglect of ex-militants of Urhobo extraction.

It said the Urhobo had been sidelined in the pipelines protection contracts offered to ex-militants from other ethnic groups and they now want to show that they too had the capacity to cause trouble if ignored.

The group said it had sent warning signals to the NPDC and the federal government on the pipeline surveillance contracts, which had excluded the Urhobo.

Urhobo Gbagbako however dissociated itself from media reports about a 14-day ultimatum given to the federal government and NPDC on the oil pipeline surveillance contracts.

“We have now resumed attack on the NPDC pipeline facilities on a massive scale, which scale of bombings shall be unprecedented,” the email said.

The group said the attacks will continue until the Urhobo got what rightly belonged to them.

It explained that Urhobo Gbagbako Group is a militia group of all ex-militants, youths, women and elders of Urhobo origin.

Urhobo Militant group claims responsibility for Delta pipeline explosion

Wireless leak detection and the end of pipeline bunkering in Nigeria

The Nigerian economy is largely dependent on trading crude oil in the international market. Oil and gas exports account for more than 98% of export earnings and about 83% of federal government revenue.

It also provides 95% of foreign exchange earnings. To put it succinctly, the amount of development in the Nigerian socio economy is largely dependent on the degree to which the domestic oil industry is developed and indeed improved.

This is just from sheer numbers and statistics. For such a parochial economy dependent on just one export product, you would expect the government to perhaps be more serious in harnessing its sole surviving medium. It is almost like torturing the hen that lays the golden eggs when your whole life depends on the eggs it lays; it would perhaps be wiser if that Hen is nurtured properly to enable it lay more and better eggs.

As the most populated Black nation on earth- Nigeria prepares for a polarizing election, perhaps her greatest threat is not the socio-political threat posed by issues like armed insurgencies or political sabotage, but from the absolute decay of her most primal source of life- Crude oil revenue, for it is upon this premise that all economic policies, planning and fiscal existence depends.

It is safe to say that the acute vulnerability of the domestic economy and GDP to global market shocks is primarily because of the lack of investment, maintenance and diligence with regards to the Nigerian oil industry. At this point not only should the Kaduna and Port-Harcourt refineries be in tiptop shape, but they should have been adequately expanded. The nation should at least have close to a dozen refineries and be the primary supplier of petroleum products in Africa.

But it is a shame that with all the intellectuals and educated individuals that have managed Nigerian oil and gas in the past, the nation still finds it difficult to manage two small refineries let alone build more. Nigeria despite earning huge revenue from crude Oil exports must expend a significant portion of these earnings to importing refined petroleum products from the same countries it exports her crude to. To call this arrangement backward would be a huge compliment.

But one must ask what is at the root of this bedevilment suffered by Nigeria’s oil and gas over the years? What is at the very core of the problem of which if that one issue is addressed things would naturally and almost immediately fall into place? Of course corruption immediately springs to mind but that even doesn’t suit the thoroughness of our inquest; corruption in this case would be too vague a term. Really, why are Nigeria’s refineries always functioning at a skeletal scale?

Well, upon close analysis we find that the refineries just like any system are linked through a network and in this case pipelines most of which deliver critical products without which the refinery would halt service. We find that these pipelines not only ensure the serviceability and functionality of these refineries but are the backbone of storage, distribution and the entire downstream sector of a normal functioning industry. In fact the country’s electricity supply depends on the safety of these pipe networks.

According to Nigeria’s minister of power Professor Chinedu Nebo, “Nigeria records the highest number of vandalized oil pipelines in the world, making it harder to achieve sustainable power supply. “Online news media reports that, Nigeria loses about 150 thousand barrels of crude oil per day to pipeline vandalism, which at the average price of $43 per barrel at the time amounted to the tune of about $6.5 million a day. At 6 million dollars a day loss, this would add up to $42 million dollars a week and $2.18 billion dollars a year in lost oil revenue!

Mind you this is at a low price per barrel of just $43. Imagine how much the country loses when the oil prices improve. And all this loss is attributable to vandalization and criminal breach in a highly technological age? A wireless age? Wonderful. For a country as technologically savvy as Nigeria, the issue of malicious pipeline leakage or “bunkering” should have ceased to come up for discussion a long time ago. We live today in a wireless world full of sensors and highly sensitive surveillance devices.

The same way distance and time is no more an excuse in the exchange of mail with the advent of email, location and distance is no more an excuse in allowing pipeline bunkering to continue to exist. Technologies like Fiber Optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) are intelligent solutions that can detect and classify third party interference.

These devices actually prevent incidents before they occur and are equipped with wireless technology and GPS to pinpoint the exact point of interference.

The fiber-optic cables act as highly sensitive microphones and can detect even a man walking on the surface of the ground. They can be used for existing as well as new piping networks; coupled with a system of cameras and sensors Nigeria can make her pipeline systems absolutely theft-proof. Considering the degree of dependence of the entire oil industry on connecting pipelines; from upstream to downstream, it is imperative that the government make this technology a priority for the sake of the entire economy.

Excuses like “oh well it s so expensive” can no longer hold water seeing that the country is already losing over $2 billion dollars yearly in pipeline vandalism and theft related activities. This technology would definitively not cost over a billion dollars but would create huge economic dividends for years to come, yielding billions of dollars in profits. Bear in mind that in the process of cleaning up this dirty business of bunkering, scavenger industries that have benefited from this anomaly for umpteenth years would have to give way.

The improvement in electric supply created by the protection of these pipelines would affect the power generator importers not to mention the billion dollar crude pipeline bunkering business. All these leach-like black-market industries would vanish overnight, simply by the application of available technology.

It’s high time the Nigerian government took the bull by the horns in terms of the oil industry while the global demand for crude is still relevant; for with improvements in technology, clean energy sources may power cars and a host of other things in the near future.

Before Turnaround maintenance, expansions or any other large project is carried out with Nigeria’s refineries, the connecting pipeline network, upon which the entire system rests, should first be secured; because the energy sector, and the oil industry and indeed the entire economy depends on the functionality of these piping networks.

 

Wireless leak detection and the end of pipeline bunkering in Nigeria