Vandalism of national assets by saboteurs

 

 “…with an average of 200,000 barrels per day lost to the wanton damage to pipelines and a huge amount of N60bn yearly to repair and maintain the vandalised points, one can only imagine the impact on the economy. According to statistics, between January 2019 and September 2020, 1,161 pipeline points across the country were vandalised”

 – Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, at a town hall meeting in Abuja on Monday, July 5, 2021.

According to Merriam Webster online dictionary, vandalism is the wilful or malicious destruction or defacement of public or private property. This much was witnessed during the #EndSARS protests of October 2020 when many lives and property, both private and public, were lost to the protests aimed at forcing reform of the dreaded Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigerian Police. At a news conference addressed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Thursday, November 19, 2020, he reeled out the following statistics: “No fewer than 100 people – including six soldiers and 37 policemen – were killed in the orgy of violence. Destroyed, vandalised or looted were 269 private and companies’ assets. Not less than 243 government facilities were burnt or vandalised and 81 government warehouses looted. 1,957 inmates were set free from eight Medium Security Custodial Centres in six states and 31 employees of the Nigeria Prisons Service were injured. The states are: Edo, Lagos, Abia, Delta, Ondo and Ebonyi. There were about 196 injured policemen, 164 police vehicles destroyed and 134 police stations burnt.”

Nigeria has also recorded other acts of vandalism. There have been several willful destruction of electricity transformers and cables, telecommunication masts and base stations, water pipes, bridge railings, and railway trackers and slippers, to mention but a few. In May this year, for instance, some vandals were arrested carting away railway tracks/slippers along Agyaragu Tofa in Lafia LGA and Angwan Alago of Kadarko District in Keana LGA of Nasarawa State. When the identities of the vandals were revealed, it turned out that the insects feasting on the vegetable are actually nesting comfortably inside the plant. They include employees of the Nigeria Railway Corporation, security agents and government officials.

While parading the suspected vandals on Thursday, May 27, 2021, the Nasarawa State Police Commissioner, Bola Longe, named them as the Special Adviser to the Governor of Nasarawa State on Infrastructure, Yusuf Musa; an inspector of police, Richard Joseph; a police sergeant, Mali Peter; an official of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Ibrahim Usman; and three others who were arrested at the crime scenes. Others nabbed include a former Supervisory Councillor on Education, Nasarawa Eggon LGA, Mohammed Isiaka; a Chinese national, Marra Thai, and the manager of Yong Xing Steel Company, Tunga Maje, FCT Abuja, and Samuel Shagbaor, an employee of the Nigerian Railway Corporation.

The ‘mother’ of all acts of vandalism was announced last Monday at the Federal Government held town hall meeting on protecting oil and gas infrastructure in Abuja. At the symposium, a lot of startling revelations were made. For instance, the Minister of Information and Culture noted that 200,000 barrels of oil are lost daily to the wanton vandalism of pipelines in the country. He said with oil providing 80 per cent of Nigeria’s budgetary revenues and 95 per cent of foreign exchange earnings, one could only imagine the impact of the incessant bursting of oil pipelines on the economy. He reminded Nigerians on the centrality of public infrastructure to economic growth and national development.

Also speaking at the town hall meeting, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, said from January – May 2021, the NNPC pipeline segments had suffered 203 pipeline breaks with System 2B having 80 pipeline breaks and System 2E, a total of 114 pipeline breaks with a total cumulative loss of 39 million litres amounting to N5.97bn. Kyari said in 2020, about $1.54bn of revenue was deferred (37 million barrels) due to 94 incidences. He said, “An average of $2.16bn of revenue has been deferred annually since 2014 as a result of incessant pipeline vandalism. Pipeline vandals and criminal gangs operating along system 2B axis have stolen about 307.99 million litres of PMS valued at N41.05bn.

“System 2E lost 26 million litres of PMS valued at N3.47bn due to activities of vandals in 2019. From January-December 2020, losses along system 2B amounted to 146.81 million litres of PMS valued at N22.49bn. Some notable hotspot areas are Abagbo, Ikate, Akaraba, Ilashe, Imoren, Ijegun, Ikotun, Baruwa, Oke Odo, Warewa and Ilara. System 2E lost 0.24 million litres of PMS valued at N36.3m in 2020”, he said.

These revelations on oil pipeline vandalism are pointers to the weakness and failure of the Nigerian state. How on earth would vandals who are non-state actors be running rings around our security agents over the years if there is no act of complicity between the law breakers and the law enforcers? As the evidence in Nasarawa State over the stealing of railway trackers and slippers have shown, our law enforcement agents are the ones who are most likely providing cover for these vandals. Otherwise, they should have been able to burst these syndicate of criminals and brought them to justice.

The town hall meeting is also self-indicting of government. The President is the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources. He is also the Commander-in-chief of the armed forces, what has he done to ensure that our security agents are able to arrest both the arrowheads and the minions engaging in this heinous crime of economic sabotage? Is the Federal Government with all its military might and arsenal not in a position to fish out the scoundrels plundering the resources of our country on this industrial scale?

Mohammed also made a shocking revelation that N60bn is spent annually to repair the vandalised pipelines. Was that amount captured in the NNPC budget and approved by the National Assembly? Does the award of the contracts for the repairs follow due process? Is it the crude oil pipelines that are vandalised or the one supplying refined petroleum products such as diesel, kerosene and petrol? If they are pipelines supplying refined petroleum products, why are the products still being trucked via articulated vehicles across the country from the Apapa Wharf in Lagos to all parts of Nigeria?

There is no gainsaying that vandalism is an unpatriotic act just as it is an act of economic sabotage. Aside from causing huge revenue loss to government, it can also cause environmental pollution and degradation. The pollution is also a harbinger of sicknesses and diseases such as cardiovascular illnesses and cancer.  While it may be true that vandalism may have been triggered by poverty, unemployment and the get-rich quick syndrome currently plaguing our dear country, there are those who also indulge in the wanton destruction of government property for political reason.

The Independent National Electoral Commission said it had recorded 41 deliberate attacks on its facilities across the country within the last two years. The INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this on May 27, 2021 at the commission’s emergency meeting with security agencies under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security. These acts of vandalism, to all intents and purposes, were done for political reasons as there were no patent economic benefits likely to accrue to the destroyers.

I am of the candid opinion that corruption is part of the reasons for the festering of the acts of vandalism in Nigeria. I will not be surprised if those awarding contracts for the repairs of the vandalised public properties and the contractors are working in cahoots with the vandals and security agents in order to keep them in business. A case in point is the N60bn spent annually to repair the vandalised pipelines which to me seem over bloated. To rub salt on the festering sore, despite the huge cost spent on the repairs, the pipelines continue to get vandalised. Thus, it is tantamount to mopping a leaking roof. The only way out is for the President to give marching orders to heads of the security agencies like the army, navy, air force, police, Department of State Security and the Civil Defence to set up anti-vandalism joint task force to police, arrest and prosecute vandals of the country’s critical assets.