Data Note: COVID-19, social distancing, and pipeline vandalism in Nigeria

Abstract

We present a dataset of the monthly cases of pipeline vandalism in Nigeria from January 2015 to January 2021. Data used in this study were collated from the Monthly Financial and Operations Reports (MFOR) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Each MFOR provides cases of pipeline vandalism during a 12-month span from five key locations; Mosimi, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Warri, and Gombe. Recorded incidences of pipeline vandalism from these locations were summed and assembled into five groups; namely: historical data, prior-COVID-19, COVID-19 lockdown, and post-COVID-19 lockdown. The data were grouped based on dates. These dates were January 2015 to July 2019, August 2019 to January 2020, February 2020 to July 2020, and August 2020 to January 2021 respectively. The historical data were further sub-divided into four sub-groups based on the deployment (May 2016) of sophisticated weapons, satellite imagery, and geographical information system into the security apparatus to checkmate pipeline vandalism. The four sub-groups are sub-group A (one-year before deployment), sub-group B (the year of deployment), sub-group C (one-year after deployment), and sub-group D (two-years after deployment). The dates span for each sub-group is May 2015-April 2016, May 2016-April 2017, May 2017-April 2018, and May 2018-April 2019 respectively. After the deployment of GIS devices in May 2016, the accumulated national number of pipeline vandalism cases declined from 400 cases in January 2016 to 293 in February 2016, and 259 cases in March 2016 as opposed to 60, 49, and 94 cases in the same months in 2017; but over the years, 2017 to 2021 these methods have proved less effective, and cases of pipeline vandalism have risen once more. Similar changes in the number of cases and patterns were observed during the COVID-19 movement restrictions. From the dataset, it can be seen that COVID-19 influenced incidences of pipeline vandalism.