Yemisi Izuora
The state run petroleum company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed that in the last six months over 50 attacks have been launched by vandals on the nation’s crude oil and gas pipelines.
According to David Igwe,Executive Director (Gas and Power) of the NNPC, who disclosed this in Lagos yesterday at the 12th Annual Aret Adams Foundation Memorial Lecture said the government is however undeterred by the challenged posed by the activities of the vandals in recent time and is working hard to safe guard those assets.
He said the corporation will continually be in the vanguard of an aggressive campaign to nip vandalism in the bud with a view to realising the nation’s gas needs and potentials in the country.
According to Ige,Nigeria has what it takes to use gas as an engine of economic growth but urged Nigerians to exercise patience for the potentials of the sector to come to fruition.
He said the government is aggressively driving the gas sector to boost local consumption through competive pricing as well as export of the product outside the shores of the land.
The NNPC’s Gas Director said the current growth pattern of the gas sector which has also witnessed a phenomenal reduction in gas flaring in the country, would also add significant value to the power sector.
Speaking, also the Managing Director of Frontier Oil Limited, Engineer Dada Thomas faulted the Federal government over gas price fixing, saying the development is a disincentive to gas producers in the country.
He also suggested the need for the Federal government to conduct special licensing round for the sector so as to create room for more gas investors to come to invest heavily and unleash the potentials of the sector.
He said considering the challenges besetting the gas sector ,it would not be too much for the Federal government to consider tax holidays for operators in the gas sector.
According to him the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill into law would be an added advantage to the sector in the area of growth, investment and prospect.