President
Buhari
The Federal Government has
described the shutdown of the national transmission facility in Osogbo and
Ikeja Disco by some unionists as an economic sabotage.
It warned yesterday that
pipeline vandals and power infrastructure saboteurs will be punished.
Minister of Information and
Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed gave the warning in a statement issued in Abuja by
his Special Adviser, Segun Adeyemi.
He said the repeated attacks on
oil and gas pipelines and wilful shutdown of power facilities by protesters
amount to economic sabotage.
Mohammed added that these have
combined to drastically reduce power generation/transmission and fuel supplies,
stressing that no government would tolerate saboteurs.
His words: “Vandals, whatever
their motives are, cannot and will not 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 the Utorogu gas plant are
totally condemnable and cannot be allowed to continue.
“Also, while this administration
will not do anything to abridge the constitutional rights of any individual or
group to carry out protests, it will also not tolerate a situation in which
anyone will hide under the guise of legitimate protests to sabotage power
infrastructure.
“The shutdown of the national
transmission facility in Osogbo and the Ikeja Disco by some unionists amount to
economic sabotage,” he said.
Mohammed said the government
was aware that as it steps up the fight against corruption, “corruption will
vigorously fight back in many forms, including the 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 assured.
The minister appealed to
Nigerians to join hands with the government to check the activities of
unpatriotic elements, who have taken it upon themselves to work against the
people’s interest.
Mohammed added: “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 the vandals or the saboteurs.
“This is why Nigerians must not
allow the few recreants behind these attacks to hold sway.”
He said the power situation is
gradually improving as generation has now increased to around 4,000MW while the
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, has assured that
the prevailing fuel queues would gradually ease in the next few days.