STAY CLEAR OF NNPC PIPELINES RIGHT OF WAY, LASG WARN LAGOSIANS The Lagos State Government has warned residents in the State to avoid building structures and encroaching on the Right of Ways (ROW) of NNPC pipeline routes across the State. The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mrs. Regina Obasa gave the warning during a stakeholders meeting on petroleum products pipeline right of way protection and vandalism in Lagos State held in Alausa Ikeja. Mrs. Obasa, while reacting to the level of encroachment as presented by official of PPMC advised the Federal Government to seek new ways to solve the issue of pipeline vandalism in the country saying the time has come to evolve modern methods to protect the pipelines. She further said the need has become more urgent because many of the areas that were rural communities and far flung places decades ago when the pipes were laid have become urban centers thereby exposing the pipelines with the attendant dangers. The Permanent Secretary advised the Federal Government or its relevant Agency to come up with the Gazette acquiring the right of ways as well as detail maps showing pipeline coverage and routes across the State which will serve as a guild to relevant State Government agencies involved in granting necessary developmental approvals. She reiterated the need to see the issue of vandalism as a national problem threatening national growth prospect with implication ranging from economic to social and political which has rendered strategic depots idle and moribund for years as pipeline supplying products through them have been constantly under incessant attack by vandals resulting to fuel shortages and scarcity. While emphasizing that the national value system need to be looked into, Mrs. Obasa stressed the need for government to develop a national plan for the protection of critical assets with punitive measures to serve as deterrent to others. On the part of the State Government, Mrs. Obasa said that Lagos State Government will continue to enlighten its citizenry on the danger of encroaching on the pipeline right of ways. She re echoes the readiness of the Lagos State Government to assist the Federal Government in whatever way to seek for an enduring solution to pipeline vandalism and encroachment on the right of way of NNPC pipelines across the State adding that the pollution of underground water table and consequent consumption of chemical that are hazardous to health by the citizenry is even more a fundamental problem than the supply of fuel to the State. She called on the Federal Government to expedite action on the remediation work at various oil spills locations from petroleum pipelines in the State such as Diamond Estate and Baruwa Community before the oil spills contaminates the aquifer of the entire Alimosho Local Government Area. Present at the meeting were representatives of major stakeholders from the federal and State Government including officials from Pipeline Product and Marketing Company( PPMC), National Oil Spill Detention and Remediation Agency (NOSDRA), Official from the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Mineral Resources, LASEPA, Physical Planning and Urban Development, Lands, Transportation and Office of the Surveyor General.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 20:39:36 +0000