The Senate has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Pipeline and Product Marketing Company, (PPMC) to improve security for its pipelines around the country.
The senators took the decision on Wednesday following a motion sponsored by Sen. Solomon Adeola (Lagos-APC) and 50 others over the recent pipeline explosion in Ijegun area of Lagos.
The incident occurred on July 4, in Alimosho Local Government Area, killing several people with many sustaining injuries.
Adeola in his motion told his colleagues that “the ensuing conflagration burnt 12 persons, and 40 others sustained various degrees of burns.
“30 vehicles were burnt; two secondary schools namely Ijegun Junior and Senior Secondary School, 20 other buildings and goods worth millions of naira were all destroyed.
“The immediate cause of the pipeline explosion followed the pattern of similar explosion at the Abule-Egba, Ajeromi-Ifelodun in Lagos on Wednesday December 19, 2018.”
Among the Senators who contributed to the motion were Sen. Remi Tinubu and Sen. Bayo Osinowo both from Lagos State.
The Senate, however, resolved to observe a minute silence in honour of the victims.
It also urged the National Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Ministry of Health to urgently attend to the medical needs of those in hospitals.
It also urged the PPMC and NNPC to reconsider the engagement of communities and local vigilantes in the protection of the pipelines and urged that the victims be added to the investigative mandate of the Ad hoc committee recently set up on the Rivers pipeline explosion.
