The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Arepo

  • Ogun, firm to assess impact of oil spill in Arepo

    The Ogun State Government and the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) will start assessment of level of environmental damage caused by oil spills in Arepo, a community in the state. This stemmed from persistent activities of vandals in the area.

    HYPREP is an agency of the government established last year to handle restoration of degraded environment arising from oil spillage and activities of oil exploration and production companies.

    Arepo has lately become notorious as a haven for petroleum products thieves and pipeline vandals, recording three major incidents in less than two months.

    A delegation from the HYPREP led by its National Coordinator, Mrs. Joy Nunieh-Okunnu, visited Arepo following an invitation from the Ogun State Commissioner for Environment, Prince Lanre Tejuosho, to start an assessment of the concerns of oil spillage and air pollution in the area.

    The commissioner confirmed that the state government would provide HYPREP with offices from where its operations could commence.

    During the visit, concerns were raised about the ease with which vandals had access to oil pipelines and the impact their activities were having in the community. A resident of the Journalists’ Estate in Arepo, Mr Gbayode Somuyiwa, and other officials and colleagues in the estate relived their experiences.

    Somuyiwa relayed his experience. He said: “On the first night I experienced this, it was as if my fuel tank was left open overnight and by the morning the smell was gone … we were just inhaling impure air and it has gone on unabated.”

    He expressed his concern about the surrounding villages where as a result of the explosion from vandalised pipes, corpses had been left in the water and this combined with oil spillage had polluted the water. “Some people have diarrhoea and they are not aware of the causes. Those who used to fish can’t fish,” he said. He also pointed out that some Ijaw communities who are active fishermen in the area have disappeared, adding that the oil spillage had destroyed the environment.

    Nunieh-Okunnu said the visit of HYPREP, which was on the invitation of the Ogun State Government, was to carry out an environmental assessment of the oil spillage. She said that for the first time in the over 50 years history of oil exploration in Nigeria, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke has set up a specialist unit within the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to ensure that section 8 and 9 of the Petroleum Act was implemented. She noted that the minister was particularly interested in what was happening in Arepo.

    She confirmed that once the office space was available, HYPREP would conduct an air analysis and perform tests on the water in collaboration with the state government. She urged stakeholders to carry out continuous campaign against crude oil theft “as people can’t keep stealing whilst we (HYPREP) keep cleaning.”

    She said the boys involved in ‘put fire’ (artisanal refining) activities must understand the impact of crude oil theft on their health and the environment. She also expressed concern about the exchange of crude oil for drugs and arms.

    On the question of compensation, Mrs Nunieh-Okunnu clarified that her agency was liable for addressing issues of environmental restoration and exploring alternative livelihoods through HYPREP’s socio-economic unit programme in impacted communities.

    Tejuosho said the state government will pursue compensation with the Federal Government where there have been negative effects of oil spillage in the community. He reassured the community that all areas that needed compensation will be pursued.

    The HYPREP delegation also went on to the Diamond Estate in Lagos State, where concerns about oil spillage and pollution had been reported. In a meeting with the President of the Estate, Mr Kolapo Abiodun, Nunieh-Okunnu listened to concerns of the community about pollution of the water around the houses in Phase Two of the estate. This, Kolapo said, raised concerns about health. He felt that effective remediation had not been put in place.

    He assured him that HYPREP would carry out an assessment and make necessary recommendations to address the issue at Arepo.

  • ‘Pipeline vandals recruited from riverine areas’

    The Nigerian Police Force has alleged that the suspected vandals that destroyed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation pipelines at Arepo village, Ogun, were recruited from Ondo State riverine areas.

    The Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in charge of the Inspector-General of Police Special Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism, Mr. Friday Ibadin, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Wednesday.

    Ibadin said the Arepo vandals went to Ondo State for the recruitment, after losing 30 of their members to a pipeline explosion recently in Ogun.

    He said that preliminary investigations into the last pipeline explosion revealed that some young men were brought to Lagos from riverine areas of Ondo State, to replace the dead members of the group.

    The preference for riverine dwellers, NAN learnt, is because of their ability to swim as most of the pipelines being vandalised are in the creeks.

    “One of the suspects arrested after the last explosion in Arepo, who identified himself as Computer, claimed that he was invited to Lagos along with two others by one Igbekorowa, (suspected ring leader of pipeline vandals).

    “According to the suspect, the person that invited them did not state the nature of the job waiting for them, because they believe he is a big man, and can assist them with good jobs,” Ibadin told NAN.

     

  • Arepo oil pipeline vandalised again

    The Pipelines and Product Marketing Company has confirmed another vandalism of the System 2B pipeline at the notorious Arepo village in Ogun State.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the latest explosion, suspected to have been caused A management official of the PPMC, who preferred anonymity, confirmed this in Lagos.

    “The service manager of the pipeline has just confirmed to us that another round of vandalism has been observed at Arepo along the System 2B in the early hours of Wednesday.

    “I was told all concerned officials have been mobilised to the area to put off the fire,’’ the official said.

    The number of casualty could not be ascertained as at the time of filing this report.

    NAN reports that the System 2B pipeline at Arepo was vandalised barely 10 days after it was repaired.

    The South West Zonal Public Relations Officer of the National Emergency management Agency, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, also confirmed the latest explosion.

    He said the agency had mobilised resources to move to the swampy area to put out the fire.

    “We have mobilised resources to move to the explosion site and put out the fire,” Farinloye told NAN.

    NAN reports that this is the second time in 2013 that explosion was recorded at Arepo village.

    The first was on January 11, when about five charred bodies were reportedly recovered at the scene by security operatives.

    by vandals, happened in the early hours of Wednesday.

  • The Arepo conundrum

    The Arepo conundrum

    From the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway end leading directly into Arepo, everything looks quiet. With such a false appearance, you will think that nothing is happening in that little village called Arepo, which you are about driving into. As you branch off the express road and head into Arepo, you will see a filling station by your right and a row of shops. You will see many more shops as you drive down the washed out road. Arepo had no road at all until about five years ago. Is it even up to five years? What it had then was a dusty patch which passed off as a road. Until journalists arrived there about nine years ago, Arepo was a rustic community peopled by those living in mud houses. Now things have changed, with beautiful houses dotting the Arepo landscape. In Arepo today, there may be no fewer than 25 estates, with the Journalists’ Estate Phases 1 & 11 leading the pack. Arepo is fast developing and it has become popular within a short time. It has all what it takes to rival Lekki in Lagos State.

    But and this is a big but, the problem is that of vandals. Arepo can be loosely translated in English as where oil is found. It is not that oil was found in Arepo; no not at all. The only nexus between it and oil is that a pipeline passes through the village. The System 2B Pipeline has been in existence for years, but it has suddenly dawned on some criminals that they have been living close to a goldmine without reaping from it. What benefit they want to reap from their proximity to the pipeline other than regular supply of petroleum products, I don’t know.

    Arepo is bordered by the sea and the pipeline passes through this sea. But the daredevil vandals are not bothered. Times without number, they have vandalised the pipeline to siphon fuel. Those who live in that axis know what they go through virtually on a daily basis because of these vandals’ activities. Most nights, pungent smell of petrol waft in the air as if there is a refinery nearby. At such times, you don’t need to be told that these vandals are at work. The smell is so strong that it can leave those with respiratory disorder breathless. Only God knows the number of people that may have suffered heart seizure from inhaling this pungent fuel smell.

    We are now at the mercy of these vandals whose illegal activities the government seems not to have an answer to. With the Arepo vandals virtually declaring a war against society, the people living there are in for a hell of a time. The vandals have stepped up their illegal activities, hitting the System B2 Pipeline at will. In August, last year, they did not only vandalise the pipeline, they also killed three officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Last Saturday, they hit the pipeline again.

    These attacks cannot be brushed aside with a wave of the hand because of their security implication. If the vandals can be so bold as to attack the Arepo pipeline twice in five months, it means that they may strike again in the nearest future if nothing is done to curtail them now. Besides, they have constituted themselves to a menace to Arepo residents. Sooner than later, we may be in a situation where vandals and security agents will be shooting themselves on the streets of Arepo just as smugglers and Customs do on some major roads in the country.

    If government has not been paying serious attention to the security of the Arepo pipeline and those living around the place, it is high time it reconsidered its stand because of the seriousness of the case at hand. A few years ago, the government deployed troops in Arepo to deter the vandals. The soldiers rather than move to the pipeline site, stationed themselves at the gate leading into the Journalists’ Estate Phase 1, which is far from the pipeline. They were there for months, yet it made no difference because they saw it as an opportunity to make money.

    The government should be concerned with what is happening at Arepo or else, it will be confronted with a problem that may not be easy to solve in future if nothing concrete is done now to stop these vandals. I have a strong feeling that this vandalism have been going on for long and ever before the opening up of Arepo. Then because everywhere was a bush it was easy for the vandals and their sponsors to operate. The opening up of the place, as it were, seems to have spoilt business for them, but they are not ready to give up without a fight.

    What will it cost government to cut these vandals to size? It will cost it nothing to carry the fight to them in their lair and make them realise that no person or group can hold a nation to ransom. There is no individual or organisation, no matter how powerful or rich that can take on the government. If there is any government might, this is the time to show it in order to stop the Arepo vandals in their tracks before it is too late. They have declared war on the people with their criminal activities and the government cannot fold its arms and watch them perpetrate this heinous crime with relish. Except if we are saying we don’t have a government.

     

    The Sultan’s homily

     

    The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar does not pull punches. If he wants to say something, he goes straight to the point, without beating about the bush. He does not believe in rubbing people on the head when there is a serious issue which deserves urgent attention to thrash out. Not once, not twice, he has spoken on the problems of the North.

    And on each occasion, he has been forthright and candid in his assessment, telling his people that the problem is more with them than outsiders. The North, he believes, should look inwards in solving its problems instead of blaming others for where the region is today. There is no better time to tell the North the truth than now and there is no better person to do that than the Sultan.

    To be sure, the North like its southern counterpart has a lot of problems. But while the South seems to appreciate the enormity of its problems, the North appears to be comfortable with what the Sultan rightly described as its self-inflicted problems. The region is not prepared to do anything about its problems, but is busy looking for scape-goats. To the average Northerner, the region’s problems are located in what they have come to see as the South’s bid to ‘lord’ it over the nation.

    If that assertion is true,then the North has itself to blame because for years the region ‘lorded’ it over the South. Since the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates in 1914, the North has been the elder brother in what some perceive as a forced union by the British imperialists led by Lord Lugard. The North had everything going for it before and immediately after the amalgamation. Even up till as recent as 1999, the North was in full control of the power structure.

    It may not have done well in commerce, but with power, it had everything. That the North is where it is today is not the fault of anybody, but that of itself. ‘’The fault is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings”, says Shakespeare. The North’s problems became compounded about four years ago with the Boko Haram menace. Rather than come together to fight the Islamic sect, which appears bent on destabilising the country at all costs, Northern leaders are speaking from both sides of the mouth.

    They say one thing today and tomorrow, they take a different position on the same matter. The question is are Northern leaders serious about solving the Boko Haram riddle? If they are, they are on the way to resolve the region’s security challenge as well as revive the age-long brotherly love between the North and South, because let’s face it many Southerners have fled that region, which they once considered home, for security reasons.

  • The vandals of Arepo

    The vandals of Arepo

    It is no accident that the casualty figures from the vandalisation of the so-called System 2B pipelines in Arepo, Ogun State have been somewhat indeterminate – days after. How about a nation that has had very limited success counting itself taking so much trouble counting the hordes of the expendables blown into the creeks as a result of greed? But then, what does it matter – that scores of Nigerians have swelled the legion of the nation’s expendables?

    One thing that cannot be suggested of the weekend pipeline disaster in Arepo Ogun State is that it was entirely unexpected. However, it seems to me that we are at the turning point – the terminal stage of the pathology described as the Acquired Institutional Delinquency Syndrome (AIDS), a measure of how far the culture of self-help has metastasized.

    Let’s go back a bit. In August last year, the same System 2B pipeline – the main artery for fuel distribution in the South-West was destroyed by the vandals. For weeks running, the nation could not put out the fires. Or, rather, the security agencies had much trouble putting out the fire as a result of the difficult terrain. It also emerged that they had to contend with the intrepid vandals who could not sit by and watch their criminal enterprise ruined. Why should they not fight since their very lives depended on it?

    We know the rest of the story. A group of NNPC engineers called in to repair the broken pipelines were gruesomely murdered; so was the attempt to retrieve their bodies from the creeks resisted by the goons. The vandals of Arepo obviously thought little of the security agencies and perhaps far less of the authority of the federal government. It took weeks before the goons were dislodged from their gangland republic and only after did the NNPC move in to fix the pipelines.

    That was in September. And the pipeline was not even put into use until December 2012. The entire affair is best described as pathetic.

    So, who is feigning surprise at last week’s disaster? The security agencies lulled into sleep after claiming premature victory August 2012? The national oil corporation yet to figure out how to secure its pipelines and make them safe? Or the federal government that is as good as clueless when matters about evolving strategies to secure vital national assets pops up? How about a nation rendered complicit by fact of indifference?

    I do not know where the idea came from that the derring-do vandals have suddenly become less daring or perhaps born-again because the security agencies managed to arrest a few persons.

    Should it surprise anyone that the NNPC does not seem to have learnt anything from the previous incident which claimed the lives of three of their top engineers and disrupted of the fuel supply chain in the South-West? Isn’t it the way the business of governance is conducted in these parts?

    I watched Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State on TV as he bemoaned the complicity of the national oil corporation in the tragedy. So unsparing was the governor as he charged that: “NNPC with their inaction, they are part of this problem. I want to believe that they are part of the people aiding and abetting this pipeline vandalisation”. That obviously was an understatement. The corporation seems to me the root and branch of the problem.

    I do not think anyone can deny the criminal complicity of a good many of our institutions in the countless instances of mass murders in the country. Do we begin with the death traps described as highways? Or the health-care system that dispenses deaths in their thousands? Or the educational system as purveyors of tradition, ignorance and superstition? Are these institutions not part of the making of the criminal state called Nigeria?

    The question of course is why anyone would expect the NNPC to be different.

    There is however, another way to view last week’s development. There are those who will argue that the Arepo incident is only a tiny dot in the nation’s slow regression to the famed Hobbesian jungle. No doubt, they are right to the extent that what we see is actually no more than the extension of the elaborate, individualized self-help scheme that governance has become in the country.

    Of course, what we call governance is actually no more than an institution in the service of a few oligarchs, a two-way affair between beneficiaries of unearned wealth: the contractors, fuel merchants, beneficiaries of all manners of duty waivers and their cohorts and the dispensers of patronage. It is between the two that the wealth of the nation is shared. We are here talking of wealth running into trillions of naira annually. So what could be wrong with some hoodlums taking their turn?

    So much for our collective outrage at what the vandals have done to themselves and the society. The question is; are they more culpable or even more rapacious in the despoliation of the nation than those whitewashed criminals in public service? Between those public servants who routinely help themselves to the public till while denying service to the public and the pipeline vandal, which is there to choose from? Howe about the high net-worth businessman whose worth is actually no more than access to the nation’s marble palaces? Are they not of the same class, the same species? Do they not represent the symptoms of the same disease of self-help, of impunity?

    I do not think that anyone should suffer the illusion that they are different. They are not. That is what makes the future so frightening.