The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, has appealed to oil pipeline hackers to desist from such nefarious act which, according to him, is not only harmful to the environment, but equally hazardous to the pipeline vandals and the economy.
Speaking while receiving a delegation of the Nigerian Environmental Society (NES) at the NNPC Towers, Abuja for a business meeting, Baru noted that the ugly incidents of petroleum pipeline pulverization presented a loss-loss scenario for the vandals, environment and economy.
The GMD restated the commitment of the corporation to the best industry standards in Health Safety and the Environment (HSE), noting that the corporation does not embark on any project without a duly certified Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report.
A statement issued by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, yesterday quoted him as saying that:“All our projects also go through commissioning and decommissioning, and we do it in accordance with prevailing world standards and our environmental practices are in line with the latest International Standard Organization (ISO) specifications. ’’
The GMD noted that HSE was given a major consideration before the corporation executed the recent spate of multi-billionaire upstream investment agreements with some of its Joint Venture (JV) partners.
‘’Be rest assured that if there is just one company that would be environmentally compliant in the industry, it is definitely going to be the NNPC,’’ Baru told the NES delegation.
In her presentation, Mrs. Dorothy Bassey, National Vice President of the society commended the NNPC for its recent successes in the sector, especially the signing of alternative funding agreements with JV partners and the re-invigoration of the NNPC Anti-Corruption unit.
Mrs. Bassey said as the foremost environmental society in the country, the NES was willing to forge a symbiotic relation with the corporation to address all the concerns that come with the day-day operations in the NNPC in particular and the oil and gas industry in general.
Earlier in the day, the NNPC GMD received a delegation of the Nigerian National Merit Award led by the Chairman, Prof. Shekarau Aku. Dr. Baru pledged the readiness of the corporation to support and identify with the ideals of the NNMA which extols the merit and value addition to the society.
