Arepo pipeline vandalism: hundred to lose homes as govt begins demolition

In order to check pipeline vandalism and secure lives of people at the Arepo area of Ogun State, the Federal Government has decided to demolish houses built close to pipelines.

The action apparently became necessary after the January 22, fire out break about two weeks ago, which left about 40 people dead.

It was gathered that the demolition started over the weekend from Warewa, a village near Arepo. As of yesterday, some makeshift homes and shops had been leveled to the ground.

As the government bulldozers were busy carrying out the exercise, officials of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, fierce-looking soldiers and officials of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps were on ground.

While the NNPC engineers were busy scanning the pipeline, the soldiers were chasing away onlookers, specifically, residents, brandishing their guns and horsewhips (Koboko).

An NNPC official explained that the structures encroached on NNPC’s right of way.

“As you can see, this is NNPC pipeline. Building on it is illegal. This is also to stem the incessant pipeline vandalism in the area. This is the only information I can give you. If you desire any further information, you may find out from our Mosimi office,” he said.

A victim of the demolition, Mr. Adewale Adekotiremora, was not too happy with the manner the demolition was being carried out.

He said the demolition was like scratching the problem in the area on the surface.

His words: “I do not support the demolition. This is because the place is not well-secured. If the place had been properly secured, people would not have built on the pipeline.

“In a country where the majority of the people are poor and there is no provision by the government to assist them, problems such as pipeline vandalism, insecurity, among others are expected. The demolition is targeted at the poor. Ordinarily, who would want to build shops on the pipeline?”

Another resident, Olumuyiwa Babatope, said: “With incessant vandalism, we have been exposed to danger. The demolition is a good one.”

One Nurudeen Oladokun said that though it was painful for people to lose their shops, it was a step in the right direction. He added that most traders knew it was wrong to build there but they did so temporarily, stressing that most of them expected that to happen.

“Another thing the government should do is to intensify surveillance as well as tackling the activities of land speculators who usually claim the land belongs to them and sell to unsuspecting members of the public,” he said.