The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on Monday said it was stepping up surveillance around oil pipelines in the country to curb activities of vandals.
Mr Emmanuel Okeh, NSCDC Public Relations Officer (PRO), said this during an interview with the News men in Abuja.
Okeh, who decried the spate of pipeline vandalism in the country, said that the ugly trend was sabotaging the nation’s economy.
“Protection of national asset is one of the primary functions of the Corp; that is why we have stepped up surveillance around the pipelines and other critical infrastructure in the country,’’ he said.
He said the agency was also building a more robust synergy with other security agencies and evolving the use of sophisticated technology surveillance on all pipeline routes across the country.
He said that increased surveillance and partnership with the host communities, especially in the Niger Delta, had led to more arrests of the miscreants who indulged in the act.
The PRO said there was need for more training and development which he said would enable the corps to check the activities of the vandals.
He said the corps had mapped out new strategies and acquired modern ICT facilities that had been deployed to strategic locations where critical national assets were constantly threatened.
He called on Nigerians, especially communities with pipeline routes, to cooperate with security agencies to tackle the challenge of pipeline vandalism.
“We call on Nigerians, especially the host communities, to monitor and volunteer information to security agencies on the activities of these vandals so that we can collectively defeat them,’’ he said.
Okeh expressed optimism that the strategy would go a long way in curbing the activities of vandals and ensure better protection of the pipelines.
On the recent vandalisation of some pipelines at Ikorodu in Lagos, the PRO said that he did not have details of the incident.
He, however, said officials of the NSCDC and other security agencies were on ground to maintain law and order.
NAN recalls that armed vandals had on Sunday attacked pipelines along the Abulewa community in Ikorodu area of Lagos leading to explosions at the site