TheCable

Ibe Kachikwu, group managing director (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), says the corporation may settle for community-based policing to protect the vast artery of oil and gas pipeline network across the country.

Speaking on Friday while receiving Perry John Calderwood, the Canadian high commissioner to Nigeria, who was on a courtesy visit to the NNPC Towers in Abuja, Kachikwu pledged to give a lot of attention to the perennial menace of pipeline vandalism and oil theft.

“I intend to give a lot of energy to the issue of oil theft and pipeline vandalism. We must keep the losses from oil theft to the lowest figure possible. I don’t believe in the arm-for-arm approach; we must engage the host communities and inculcate in them the need to see the assets in their domain as their own,” he said.

He hinted that in the months ahead, the corporation will initiate discussions with community leaders and interest groups with a view to fashioning a workable community-oriented pipeline protection format with less emphasis on the use of brute force to secure the lines.

On the state of the refineries, the NNPC boss solicited support from Canadian companies and service providers, stating that Nigeria could make do with Canada’s vast experience in refining and expertise in oil and gas operations.

In his response, Calderwood stated the willingness of the Canadian government and its business entities to work with the NNPC in growing the Nigerian oil and gas industry to enviable heights.

The administration of Goodluck Jonathan had enlisted the service of ex-militants and local militias in the protection of the nation’s pipelines.

But the effectiveness of that approach was always questioned, as oil theft and vandalisation of oil pipelines continued to thrive.

Nigeria was losing thousands of barrels of crude even with the hired militia group as security.