The Group Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, Limited, Mele Kyari, has alleged that some illegal petroleum products pipelines were connected to Churches and Mosques.
Kyari disclosed this at a ministerial briefing organized by the presidential communications team at the State House.
The CEO while lamenting the level of loses on the nation’s pipelines added that the nefarious business of pipeline vandals cuts across different regions and religious organizations where the pipelines pass through.
While maintaining that the issue of oil theft is real, he however stated that the company is not helpless as its efforts were paying off.
According to him, 295 illegal connections were discovered in one line, in less than 200 meters.
He said so far, 30 Speed Boats, 179 Wooden Boats, 37 trucks have been impounded, but that the authorities have taken the decision not to arrest any longer but to burn such confiscated products.
According to The Vanguard, he revealed that, 122 persons comprising highly placed individuals have been arrested between April and August and that some of them have been handed over to the Econonic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
He said 739 ovens for the illegal crude oil theft have been discovered and some destroyed, 344 reservoir created and 355 cooking pots also discovered, stressing that the level of the illegal business was enormous.
He also stated that the deliberate shutdown of pipelines in the country was intentional.
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