By Monsurat Abisoye
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has uncovered a disturbing trend in the country’s pipeline vandalism crisis, revealing that organised criminal syndicates are disguising themselves as members of a purported Federal Government task force to steal critical oil infrastructure. The company disclosed that 24 cases of vandalism have been recorded along sections of the Warri-Kaduna crude oil pipeline corridor since 2025, with about nine kilometres of pipeline already stolen by suspected vandals.
The revelation emerged during a joint inspection of a vandalised section of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC) crude oil pipeline at Pai Community in the Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory. The inspection, conducted by NNPC Ltd’s Industry-Wide Security Architecture, NPSC, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) Special Prosecution Team, the FCT Police Command, the Nigerian Army, and other security stakeholders, followed the arrest of three suspected pipeline vandals in the Piri and Pai communities.
Speaking on the development, NNPC Ltd’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Andy Odeh, said the inspection was aimed at assessing the extent of damage to the critical national asset, advancing ongoing investigations, and strengthening efforts against economic sabotage. He noted that NPSC, a subsidiary of NNPC Ltd, manages more than 5,000 kilometres of crude oil and petroleum products pipelines across the country and that incidents of pipeline theft have continued to rise since 2024.
According to Odeh, 19 cases of pipeline theft were reported in 2025, resulting in the theft of approximately nine kilometres of pipeline along the Enugu-Makurdi-Yola corridor and between Piri and Izom on the Warri-Kaduna pipeline route. He added that five additional cases have already been recorded in 2026 at Piri-Kwali, Gwagwalada, and Badanga along the Warri-Kaduna and Jos-Gombe pipeline corridors. The affected infrastructure serves as a major route for transporting crude oil from the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company to the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Bashir Ojulari, represented by the company’s Chief Interface Officer, Dahiru Sani-Gwarzo, described the arrest of the suspects as a significant breakthrough in the fight against pipeline vandalism. He stated that security agencies were intensifying efforts to identify and prosecute not only those directly involved but also the sponsors and masterminds behind the criminal activities. Similarly, FCT Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Muhammed Sanusi, said intelligence gathering, surveillance operations, and targeted patrols led to the arrests, adding that investigations had already generated valuable leads concerning the sponsors and receivers of the stolen materials.
Also speaking, the Director of Energy Security at ONSA, Goodluck Ebele, urged Nigerians to report suspicious activities around oil facilities, stressing that pipeline vandalism affects national revenue, energy supply, and economic development. Representing the Nigerian Army, Lt. Col. J.O. Ajongbo reaffirmed the military’s commitment to protecting critical energy infrastructure nationwide, while the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Hon. Sesi Whingan, pledged legislative support for stronger deterrent measures. Pipeline vandalism remains one of the most pressing challenges facing Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, contributing to production losses, environmental degradation, and declining revenues, with recent incidents indicating that criminal networks are increasingly targeting infrastructure beyond the Niger Delta.
