Workers under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) yesterday embarked on round two of its planned nationwide protest against oil theft and vandalisation of petroleum pipelines.
The protest is to mount pressure on the federal government to bring oil thieves to book.
The protest, which took place at computer village under bridge, Ikeja, was led by the Lagos state branch of PENGASSAN, Comrade Eyam Abeng, who called on all Nigerians to assist government in arresting vandals and oil thieves.
Urging Nigerians to embark on whistleblowing against oil thieves, Abeng, while speaking on the theme: ‘Chasing oil thieves and vandals out of business’, said, if the oil theft is not stopped, it will affect many businesses and more people will lose their jobs.
According to him, “when a person goes into business to make profits, as long as the crude that is brought from the ground cannot be put intact and sell to make money, the highest impact to the person is that he/she is more likely to go out of business if that theft is not stopped.
“Not only will you go out of business, Nigerians that are employed across the value chain from the oil and gas and from all the various sectors, such as, manufacturing, everybody will go out of line because we need gas to power the industry, we need gas for us to have electricity, we need crude oil, fuel to drive our vehicles, and we need gas for us to cook. So, these companies cannot make profits hence, they will go out of business, Nigerians will go out of jobs and the country will be a state of disorganisation.”
The protesters were addressed by the commissioner of Police, Area F Command, Ikeja GRA, ACP John Sango.
Sango collected the protest letter signed by PENGASSAN senior assistant general secretary, Comrade Babatunde Oke, on behalf of Lagos State governor, Mr Babatunde Sanwo-Olu.
Part of the letter said: “activities of the criminals involving in oil theft and pipeline vandalisation have serious environmental degradation, air pollution and other pollutions that have affected the agricultural lives of inhabitants of the oil producing and pipeline areas. Most International Oil Companies (IOCs) are divesting when there is no new investment in the oil and gas industry due to the menace of oil theft and pipeline vandalisation.”
