The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on Thursday said it would establish a security advisory council to ensure a lasting solution to the recurrent incidences of pipeline vandalism and other security challenges plaguing the oil and gas industry.

A statement by the corporation’s spokesman, Ndu Ughamadu said this was announced by its Group Managing Direct, Dr. Maikanti Baru when he led the NNPC management on a visit to Media Trust Limited, noting the need to evolve new measures to bring an end to pipeline vandalism which is a major threat to the nation’s economy.

Baru said the advisory council would involve critical stakeholders which include security agencies, Niger Delta leaders, IOCs which would address all security and host community agitations.

“We want to passionately appeal to those behind indiscriminate acts of infrastructure vandalism to put an end forthwith to these despicable acts which are a great threat to the economy, the eco-system and energy security of the country,” Baru added.

He explained that since coming on board, he has ensured that the NNPC was run as a “Focused, Accountable, Competitive and a Transparent” organisation, conducting its business with Integrity, following which the corporation continues to publish its monthly operational and financial reports.
It was this new wave of openness and transparency, he continued, that has earned the NNPC accolades among Nigerians, just as “the Nigerian Extractive Industries & Transparency Initiative (NEITI) recently commended us for embracing openness, subjecting our activities to greater public scrutiny and providing real-time information about the state of the nation’s oil and gas sector.”
He explained that through his 12 Business Focus Areas (BUFA), the Corporation has kick-started the implementation of policies to place the organization on the path of growth and profitability.

The GMD explained that aside increasing the nation’s oil and gas reserves to 37 billion barrels of oil and 192 trillion cubic feet of gas respectively, the Corporation has also commenced exploratory activities in the Gongola Basin with the aim of further growing our oil and gas reserves and taking advantage of low oil prices which make inland exploration cost effective.