AS a major threat to the nation's fortunes, pipeline vandalism is assuming such a grimmer dimension as demands the immediate intervention of the Federal Government, security agencies and other stakeholders. Obviously buoyed by their successes in destroying pipelines to steal oil, vandals have become more daring in their criminal activities, thereby inflicting untold damage on the nation's economy.
Not only does the Federal Government lose billions of naira to pipeline vandals yearly, some oil companies have been forced to shut down their operations when they could no longer bear the losses owing to the vandalisation of their pipelines. However, it is not only the government and the oil companies that lose. The pipeline vandals are also a danger to themselves and the citizens near their areas of operation as many of them have lost their lives to the explosions in the course of stealing oil from the pipes.
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