Huge commendations trailed the Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL) at a stakeholders’ roundtable in Port Harcourt May 8, 2025.
Dr Kennedy West, President-General of the Movement for the Survival of the Ijaw Ethnic Nationality (MOSIEN), said PINL has performed very well and has mobilized the communities for defence of pipelines. He urged the NNPC to review the contract upward.
The monarch of Eleme, King Phillip Osaro Obele, said communication gap was the bane of the oil industry that fueled disturbances due to lack of understanding between the communities and oil industry players, saying PINL has breached the gap.
Dr Akpos Mezeh, PINL Community Relations Consultant, who addressed the large audience from four states (Rivers, Bayelsa, Imo, Abia) revealed the greatest obstacle to eradication of pipeline vandalism. He named them as connivance and freeing of those arrested.
He said the two were the biggest obstacles to reaching zero attack on the Trans-Niger pipeline that runs through 215 communities to the export terminus in Bonny.
Dr Mezeh who addressed the large audience, said one of their challenges had to do with failure to prosecute arrested suspects. He said most of the community people complained that if they arrest suspected vandals and hand over to the police, soon, the suspects would reappear few days after and even threaten those that arrested them. He received loud ovation of affirmation (yes) at the Atlantic Hall of the Hotel Presidential in the garden city when he asked the audience if that was what they told him.
The next challenge is, he said, was community leadership disputes and tussles. “We even went to the local council chairmen to identify the real leaders.
“Our appeal is to the community leaders not to see struggle for positions as a do or die affair. This is because, if you don’t win today, you may win tomorrow, if you don’t win tomorrow, your child may win next tomorrow.”
He said the situation forced the firm to invite all factions to meetings to avoid isolating any group. “We found out that in some places, people do not even recognize or respect their paramount rulers. That is a sad situation and we hereby beg the community people to respect their paramount rulers.”
He mentioned connivance as the biggest challenge facing pipeline protection efforts. He called it stakeholders and community connivance to damage pipelines, saying there have been instances of connivance between security operatives and vandals or between community persons and vandals.
“The criminals are heavily armed and if the arrested ones are released, they return to attack the people they suspected to be behind their arrest.”
He also mentioned issues with some contractors who he said did not perform as much as others because they failed to relate with the host community people.
He said awards were given to best performing contractors to motivate them and encourage the others to aspire to be recognized.
He regretted the Owaza (Abia State) Incident that took lives of two security operatives, saying their guns have not been recovered to this moment.
He said the objective remains to make the pipeline breach free. “The essence of today’s meeting is for us to appraise our journey so far and of course we all started the journey together and it’s only proper that we come together from time to time to assess ourselves whether we made progress.
He declared that PINL’s mandate to protect the Trans Niger Pipeline has been achieved through engagements with the host communities. “These collaborative approaches have not only led to stronger relations but also forged a united front against pipeline vandalism.
“Apart from the community stakeholders, we also have a mandate to reach out to other groups. We have our non-state actors, local government chairmen, government security agencies, regulatory agencies, etc.
“In collaboration with the communities and government security agencies we can measure our achievements such as carrying out social investments based on needs assessment; done mitigating the socioeconomic drivers of oil theft while promoting sustainable empowerments of our communities.
“We have also ensured that we restore the environment hitherto destroyed by incessant crude oil theft with the associated hazards.
“We, also, have achieved near-zero infractions on the Trans Niger Pipeline and of course that amounts to giving us increased crude oil production. It has boosted investors’ confidence in our economy with the attendant revenue increase.”
On how this near zero breach on the pipeline was achieved, Mezeh talked about being able to motivate surveillance guards through regular and timely payment of salaries. “We have never owed them even one month. We also pay the contractors at the right time.
“We are also passionate about the safety of workers and the people living in the communities where we have our operations. We have cared for the protection of community people.”
He said they have encouraged host community leadership through regular engagement and support, and have also carried out other social responsibilities and interventions that prioritized the welfare of the communities.
In his intervention, Kennedy West, President-General, Movement for the Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality (MOSIEN), said PINL has done huge work and appealed to the NNPC to carry out upward review of the contract to enable the firm do more.
King Phillip Osaro Obele, a paramount ruler in Eleme, commended PINL for bridging the communication gap between communities and the oil industry, saying: “Communication is key. This is what PINL has realized and is doing. It has enabled the communities to air their grievances and we expect them to take it to the government and the oil industry captains.”
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