Baru: NPDC Lost N1.5tn to Vandalism in 2016

Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has said N1.5 trillion was lost by the corporation’s exploration and production (E&P) arm, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), to repeated attacks on its oil and gas facilities in 2016.

Baru, in a statement from NNPC’s Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndu Ughamadu, yesterday in Abuja stated that the losses were incurred between January till date.
He said this while declaring open the corporation’s 2016 security awareness week with the theme, ‘NNPC Security: A Task for All Stakeholders’.

According to the statement, Baru lamented the rising spate of criminality in the society at large and in the oil and gas industry in particular, adding that this has led to the loss of this much of revenue to the country.

He said: “At industry level, we are all conversant with the seriousness and frequency with which national assets in form of pipelines, flow stations are vandalised and crude oil and white products stolen with impunity.

“In 2016 (January to date), for example, NPDC alone recorded 59 security incidents resulting in crude production shut down/deferment and revenue loss of over N1.5 trillion.”
He equally urged Nigerians to help protect the country’s national assets, and that governments at various levels are fighting criminality but that the success of such can only be achieved when all stakeholders imbibe the consciousness that security was a task for everyone.

“At corporate level, you are all aware that the first item on my 12 focus areas is security. This is in recognition of the imperative that without assurances of safety, NNPC, the oil and gas industry, and indeed the country cannot achieve appreciable growth to assure citizens of decent and productive lives,” he explained.

The statement further noted that Baru launched the corporation’s ‘Kidnap for Ransom Policy’ to raise staff awareness on the need to avoid actions that give them away easily to kidnaps, especially at a time like this when kidnapping for ransom has become very rampant.

He thus charged staff to participate actively in the activities of the security awareness week to imbibe ideas that could help them not only in personal security, but also in the protection of national assets.