Federal Government declares war on fuel and power saboteurs

Mr Segun Adeyemi who is the Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has in a statement issued on Sunday 13 March 2016,  warned that the the Federal Government (FG) has promised to take remedial action against saboteurs responsible for the ongoing fuel scarcity and drop in power generation.

He further stated that “Vandals, whatever their motives are, cannot be treated with kid gloves because their actions constitute a clear and present danger to the nation’s economic, social and political wellbeing. “The attack on the Forcados Export Terminal that has affected gas production by oil firms and reduced gas supply to power generating plants and the shutdown of Utorogu gas plant are totally condemnable and cannot be allowed to continue,”

“The shutdown of the national transmission facility in Osogbo and the Ikeja Disco by some unionists amount to economic sabotage,” he added. Mohammed said government was not unaware that as it steps up the fight against corruption, corruption would vigorously fight back in many forms which include destruction/sabotage of key national infrastructure to make the government look bad. “However, nothing will make this government to slow down in its anti-corruption fight and no one who is corrupt will be spared,” he warned. He appealed to Nigerians to join hands with the government to check the activities of unpatriotic elements working against the interest of the people. “When oil and gas facilities are vandalised, the impact is felt directly by Nigerians; when power infrastructure is sabotaged for whatever reasons, Nigerians bear the brunt.

“While those actions may be aimed at discrediting the government, those who pay the price are the vast majority of innocent, law-abiding and well-meaning Nigerians, not just the vandals or the saboteurs,’ he added. The minister, however, noted that the power situation was gradually improving as generation had now increased to around 4,000 megawatts. He said the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, had assured that the prevailing fuel queues would gradually ease in the next few days. Meanwhile, lack of adequate functional facilities in the downstream sector has emerged as fresh fact for the prolonged fuel scarcity in the nation.