The Federal Government has vowed to deal ruthlessly with pipeline vandals and saboteurs of power infrastructure.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji LAI MOHAMMED issued the threat against the backdrop of recent acts of vandalism in parts of the country.
LAI MOHAMMED said such criminal acts have combined to drastically reduce power generation and transmission, as well as fuel supplies, thereby inflicting untold hardship on Nigerians.In a statement issued in Abuja, the Minister of Information and Culture said the repeated attacks on oil and gas pipelines and the willful shutdown of power facilities by protesters amount to economic sabotage, which he said no government will tolerate.He said the vandals, whatever their motives, cannot and will not be treated with kid gloves because their actions constitute a clear and present danger to the nation’s economic, social and political well being. The government spokesman said an attack on the Forcados Export Terminal that has affected gas production by oil firms and reduced gas supply to power generating plants and the shutdown of the Utorogu gas plant are totally condemnable and cannot be allowed to continue.
