Militants Blow UP NPDC Oil Pipeline Over Surveillance Contract Dispute

An unidentified militant group in Delta State today blew up pipelines belonging to the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) at Ighwrenene town in Ughelli North local government area.

A few residents of the area told SaharaReporters that the militant group blew up the
pipelines to protest the Federal Government’s continued refusal to hire its members to
provide surveillance services over all the pipelines in the area.
A young man in the area, who identified himself as one of the militants who torched the
pipeline, warned that the government had seen nothing yet. “This is only the beginning
of wahala [trouble],” said the man, who refused to disclose his name.
“This is the second explosion. There will be third one. Then the government will know
that, yes, this is not a child's play,” he continued. Then he added: “President
Muhammadu Buhari must give the [contract for the] guarding of the pipelines to the
youths. If not—well, let me stop there first.”
Our correspondent reported that the explosion, which is the second attack on the same
pipeline in recent times, occurred around 1:00 a.m.
Due to the treacherous terrain, a SaharaReporters correspondent who visited the area
was unable to gain access to the scene of the explosion. The correspondent
encountered some security agents, NPDC officials, and Delta State firefighters who were
trying to secure the flooded road. The officials warned the reporter to refrain from
taking photos of the area.
Speaking to our correspondent, some residents of Ighwrenene decried the absence of
proper vigilance of the pipelines. They urged the state and federal governments to make
arrangements for proper surveillance of the pipelines to prevent any future breaches and
explosions caused by the activities of militant groups or vandals.
One of the residents, Julius Oghenejovwo, called on both the state and federal
governments to consider the recruitment of locals to assist in guarding all the pipelines
in the areas.
Speaking with a SaharaReporters correspondence, a staff of the fire department of the
NPDC disclosed that a similar explosion also occurred Thursday at Ubeji in Warri South
local government area of Bayelsa State.
He revealed that the NPDC was making efforts to switch off the flow of oil through the
affected pipelines. “Until we succeed in cutting of oil from the pipeline, we remain
helpless in our attempt to gain access to the point of explosion. The road leading to
the place is flooded, and that has made the travel impossible,” he said.
As at the time of filing this report, no group or groups had officially claimed
responsibility for the explosion. However, an explosion that rocked a flow station three
months ago was attributed to a militant group known as the Urhobo Gbagbako.
SaharaReporters learned that the group had threatened to carry out more pipeline
explosions if the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration rejected its demand to be
awarded a pipeline surveillance contract.
In the dying days of his administration, former President Goodluck Jonathan had
awarded lucrative pipeline surveillance contracts to several leaders of militant groups in
the Niger Delta and southwest. Mr. Jonathan’s political opponents accused him of
setting a dangerous precedent by awarding surveillance contracts to ill-equipped militant
groups whose major figures merely saw the contracts as cash cows. The former
president reportedly handed the surveillance contracts to the erstwhile militant
henchmen in order to secure their political support for his reelection.
It is unclear whether President Buhari would renew the surveillance contracts or accede
to pressure by other militant groups to secure such contracts.














Source : Sahara reporters