Pipeline security: Group condemns allegation against Kachikwu

Oil monitoring group, the Niger Delta Indigenous Movement For Radical Change, has condemned allegations by some stakeholders alleging that Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Emmanuel Kachikwu, was involved in a pipeline security contract scam.
The group said the allegation was designed to blackmail the Minister over pipeline surveillance contracts, which some stakeholders have been pressuring him about.
The NDIMRC in a press statement signed by its President, Nelly Emma; Secretary, John Sailor; and Public Relations Officer, Stanley Mukoro, said it is laughable to say Kachikwu’s alleged award of pipeline surveillance contracts to his friends and cronies had fuelled pipelines attacks by militant groups in the Niger Delta region.
The group said: “It is very laughable for these well known blackmailers to say that members of the Niger Delta Avengers destroyed pipelines few weeks after the Minister awarded security contract to incompetent friends and family members.
“The demands of the Niger Delta Avengers are in the public domain. People should stop painting the Minister in bad light; he should be encouraged.
“We are imploring Nigerians to ignore these baseless accusations against the Minister. We know where they are coming from and we know their selfish reasons too. The blackmailers have vested interests in the oil and gas Industry and ready to do everything and anything to frustrate the dynamic Minister.
“The blackmailers are at work again because they are not happy that the Minister has brought stability to the oil and gas sector. All allegations against the Minister in the online report are cheap lies against the God-fearing Minister who wants the best for the oil and gas Industry.”
The group stated that as part of measures to end pipeline vandalism, Kachikwu would soon deploy modern technology to bury pipelines out of the reach of vandals in the region.
It said: “The Minister is creating a good relationship with the relevant stakeholders in the oil-rich Niger Delta Region aimed at securing our pipelines from vandals. The Minister is also working closely with President Buhari for the rapid development of the Region.
“These blackmailers are talking out of points; they have ran out of ideas on what to accuse the Minister of. The vandalisation of our oil pipelines has been on for the past 15 years in the industry and the Minister has taken the bull by the horns as he will soon engage community leaders and other stakeholders in the region on the protection of our pipelines and he is  also  set to deploy a modern technology that will put our pipelines out of the reach of vandals.”