NNPC suspends repair of Arepo pipeline

Two senior officials of the National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said on Wednesday that the corporation had suspended the repair of the vandalised pipeline at Arepo, Ogun State.

Mr Isiaku Abdulahi,  Managing Director, National Engineering and Technical Company and Mrs Atinuke Tinuade, a chief engineer, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
The pipeline was vandalised on August 30 and three NNPC staff members were killed a few weeks after when they went to repair the pipeline.    
Abdulahi said that the pipeline, which conveys petroleum products from Atlas Cove, Lagos, to outlets in the South-West, would take some time before repair.
According to him, the pipeline could not be repaired now for security reasons.
“We are working to see that the pipeline is repaired. We have to ensure that we do not jeopardise the lives of our staff again,” he said.
Akinwale, at the conference of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, in Lagos, also told NAN that the corporation was not in a haste to repair the pipeline.
She said the repair would begin when adequate security arrangement had been put in place by the government and the corporation.
She said that three of the corporation’s workers, who attempted to repair the pipeline, were killed by those who vandalised the pipeline on September 7.
Akinwale said that the corporation could no longer subject members of staff to the insecurity at Arepo.
She appealed to the public to bear with the corporation, adding that repairs would begin immediately a security arrangement was put in place.