17 February 2015, Abuja – Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo has disclosed that Nigeria lost over 3,800 megawatts (MW) of its expected electricity generation to vandalism of majorly key gas pipelines between December 2014 and February 2015.
Nebo disclosed in his presentation at a recent media briefing that the last break on the country petroleum pipeline occurred early last week, leading to a total loss of about 500MW of electricity from the national grid.
“Between 2014 and now, there have been over 200 incidences on Trans Niger crude oil Pipeline (TNP) in the east affecting Okoloma gas supply. There are also regular interruptions on the west through the Trans Forcados crude oil Pipeline (TFP) affecting gas supply in the west, and Escravos-Lagos Pipeline (ELP) gas pipeline vandalism in the swamp of west Niger Delta,” said Nebo.
He further noted that the incidences between the period had led to loss of over 3,800MW, considering that over 1.1 billion standard cubic feet (scft) of gas supply to power was cumulatively lost on daily basis.
Nebo stated: “A loss of 200 million scf/day is equivalent to power reduction of the order of 700MW.”
“On the 29 December, they went and vandalised pipelines and that cost us nearly 1,000MW.They vandalise the gas pipelines more and they don’t get anything from it. Two days ago, they struck again after we had arrived at 4000MW and we are down again,” Nebo said.
The minister said the effect of power infrastructure vandalism is a resultant high tariff rate accompanied with less power supply instead of a reversal order.
He explained that the government is working on deploying remote monitoring of the pipelines which would help to forestall further acts of sabotage.
In his response to questions, especially on attempts to apprehend pipeline vandals, Nebo said: “Just this week, two vandals were arrested in Akwa Ibom and jailed for five years, also in Ondo state, there were two convictions. These are just the most recent arrests.”
The ministry also signed a pact with civil society groups to raise awareness on the impact of pipeline vandalism on the nation’s economy.
At the signing ceremony, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Godknows Igali said that with about 20 civil society groups on sensitisation campaigns against vandalism, the drive will help to enlighten Nigerians more about the menace and promote the report of vandals’ activities by patriotic Nigerians across communities.
Some of the groups who signed the anti-vandalism campaign pact include the former president of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), Charles Oputa, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and Senior Special Adviser to the President on Youth Matters, Jude Imaigwe.
– This Day