Soldiers were on wednesday caught by men of the National Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project [HYPREP] siphoning product suspected to be kerosine from an underground pipeline in Eleme government area of Rivers State.
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A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who was on the HYPREP entourage, reports that a strange drama ensued at Sisioke community in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State where the
team saw some military personnel siphoning kerosene from an underground pipeline into drums.
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The men, led by one soldier bearing the name tag Sgt. S Haladu, were unperturbed when questioned by newsmen and the HYPREP team but said that they were “guarding the pipeline’’.
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The HYPREP boss who was visibly disturbed by the strange occurrence, made frantic calls to some senior military personnel and PPMC officials with a view to stopping them.
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However, a Joint Task Force (JTF) patrol van without a number plate, later arrived at the scene with armed military men, condoned off the area and threatened to deal with the HYPREP officials.
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The HYPREP boss Joy Nunieh Okunnu described the incident as a great sabotage to the nation’s oil industry and promised to take up the issue with the relevant authorities.
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Nnieh-Okunnu said the clean-up of Ogoniland would be rendered useless if saboteurs kept rupturing the pipelines.
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Cases of crude oil theft and vandalism has been on the rise in the area.
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The National Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP), said on Wednesday that pipeline vandalism was contributing largely to oil spills and pollution in the Niger Delta region.
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The Coordinator of HYPREP, Mrs Joy Nnieh-Okunnu, made the statement in Eleme, Rivers, during an impact assessment tour of oil spill sites in Ogoniland.
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Nnieh-Okunnu condemned the activities of vandals, adding that their activities were hurting the nation’s economy.