Electrified walls will check pipeline vanderlism

   The Federal Government should build electrified and non-electrified walls round oil and gas pipelines in the Niger Delta region to protect them, the Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr. Obafemi Olawore, has said.

This is coming on the heels of the Federal Government's victory over militants, including pipeline vandals, in the region.

Olawore said the walls would be different in structure, adding that the idea would help in warding off attacks against the pipelines. He said while one of the two walls would be in electronic format, the other would not, adding that the idea will curtail the activities of vandals.

He said: "Two approaches or methods need to be adopted if government really wants to curb pipeline vandalism and other untoward practices that affect oil production and exploration activities in Nigeria. The first one is building of electrified wall round pipelines, while the second is building of wall that is non-electrified round pipelines. Electrified walls are found to be useful in many of the developed economies."

Olawore, who spoke at a stakeholders' forum in Lagos, said government-owned assets including oil installations require maximum security in view of their strategic importance to the economy. He said the environment in which oil marketing firms and other organisations in the downstream subsector of the industry operate was more challenging, urging the government to do something on it for growth.

According to him, the process of acquiring land for investments in the industry was cumbersome as well as hindering growth. "Apart from the fact that operators are finding it difficult to get land for investment purposes, they are also battling problems such as huge taxes and levies. They are paying different forms of taxes to the three levels of government - Federal, state and the local government. The three tiers of government collect the same tax from operators, resulting in multiple tax collection from the operators. The issue is affecting the industry's capacity to record growth. By the time the operators factored in the cost of materials, taxes and other levies on their production, they are left with small profits," he added.

Also, the Chairman, Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chief Chinedu Okoronkwo, said oil marketers, among others, operate in a difficult environment caused by the recession in the economy. However, he said problems in the industry were surmountable, adding that operators will overcome them soon.

The marketers,Okoronkwo said, were getting used to the government's directive on fuel importation and buying of foreign exchange (forex) from multiple sources as well as recording growth.

He said activities in the downstream segment were picking up, adding that marketers were free to import fuel into the country. "The prospect is bright for operators in the sector. With time, the deregulation would benefit all the operators. Before, many members of IPMAN struggled to get fuel to sell but now there is an improvement. I believe the gains recorded by marketers would trickle down on other players in the industry soon," he said.

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