Mele Kyari, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has hinted that a national reserve company would soon be established .
The NNPC boss explained that the company would saddled with the responsibility of managing the pipelines on a commercial basis
He said this intervention would endure efficiency and put them to use for the distribution of products across the country,
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday in Abuja ,Kyari said even though the problem which resulted in the discovery of 295 illegal connections making it difficult for oil companies to operate efficiently, remained very difficult to manage the company was not helpless.
Kyari, who spoke during the 49th session of the weekly ministerial briefly at the State House in Abuja, maintained that the solution must therefore be holistic, adding that the ugly phenomenon involved a network of vandals working in collaboration.
“Nobody in Nigeria is exempted from the monumental stealing of Nigerian crude oil that has led to the crippling economy of the country, going by the account of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, on Tuesday.
“When a fire outbreak happened in one of our pipelines, we discovered that some of the pipelines were actually connected to individuals’ homes. And not only that, and with all sensitivity to our religious beliefs, you know, some of the pipelines and some of the products that we found, are actually in churches and in mosques.
“That means that everybody is involved. There is no way you will take products, bring them in trucks in populated neighborhoods, load them, and leave without everybody else knowing about it. Everybody includes members of the community, members of the religious leaders and also and most likely government officials of all natures, including security agencies personnel.
“They are everywhere. And I’ve seen this even in the Niger Delta. There’s no way you would deliver a volume and lose up to 30 percent and you will continue to put those products in this line. The entire network of pipelines for petroleum products distribution in the country has been shut down, as a result of the activities of vandals.