The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has commended the Federal Government for discontinuing the oil pipeline surveillance contracts which the President Goodluck Jonathan administration awarded the Odua Peoples Congress.
The OPC had on Monday announced that it would pull out its men from guarding all Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation pipelines nationwide because the corporation had yet to start paying for the work its men were doing.
Jonathan had, shortly before the elections, awarded a pipeline surveillance contract to the OPC and other ethnic militias to the tune of N4bn.
The OPC had also campaigned rigorously for Jonathan in order to retain the contract which it described as a means of creating jobs for the nation’s unemployed youths.
However, the Publicity Secretary of Lagos APC, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, told our correspondent during an interview on Monday that the withdrawal was a welcome development.
Igbokwe said Jonathan only gave the OPC and other ethnic militias contracts out of his desperation to win a second term.
He said in developed countries, pipelines were protected by trained professionals and technological equipment rather than “unemployed youths with guns”.
He said, “The day that Jonathan lost the election was the day that they lost the contract. Why should hoodlums be used in securing pipelines when helicopters are used in advanced countries? We don’t need people to physically monitor pipelines.
“Using OPC is a primitive way of securing pipelines. Can you trust them to secure the pipelines and not help themselves? It is a primitive way of securing pipelines and that shows you how desperate Jonathan was to win the election.
“The government can create jobs by employing the OPC to work on farms to help revive our agricultural sector. You don’t give sensitive jobs like pipelines to outlaws. The OPC was outlawed and was not recognised by previous governments until Jonathan did.”
