THE Nigerian government has given communities in the country’s oil-producing region a two-week deadline to stop vandalising oil pipelines or face the deployment of soldiers to maintain security. The managing director of the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Jackson Gaius-Obaseki, said the company has lost more than US$34.7m this year through pipeline vandalisation. In southern Edo state alone, more than 300 people were killed in a series of pipeline explosions in June and July. Police have also been authorised to strengthen anti-vandal patrols in the affected communities. Fuel operators and the international companies that produce 2.03m barrels of crude oil a day regularly complain that local communities tap into pipelines to siphon fuel or crude oil, and then demand compensation because of the environmental damage caused. – AFP