Southsouth stakeholders yesterday hailed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for renewing the contract awarded to Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited (TSSNL) for pipelines protection in the Niger Delta.
The stakeholders– Itsekiri Leaders of Thought (ILoT), Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in Akwa Ibom State— said they had no doubts that the deal was “renewed and expanded” because of the positive results achieved by TSSNL
The commendation came just as the founder of the security firm, Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tomopolo), and hundreds of Egbesu worshippers conducted sacred rites and celebrated the renewal at Gbaraun-Egbesu Temple in Oporoza, Warri Southwest Local Government Area of Delta State.
Four leaders of ex-Niger Delta agitators had at the weekend pledged to unite against oil theft in the oil-rich region. They were quoted as saying that the best way to end economic sabotage in the Niger Delta was for the NNPCL to decentralise pipeline protection contracts.
The former agitators’ leaders are Mujaheedeen Dokubo-Asari, Tom Ateke, Ajube Bibopiri and Victor Ebukabowei.
Their position was backed yesterday by the Ikwerre Peoples Congress (IPC), which said the NNPCL had by its action unwittingly renewed conflict in the Niger Delta.
The contract to TSSNL was first awarded in August 2022 at N48 billion but was expanded and renewed for three years recently by the NNPCL.
ILoT Secretary Amorighoye Mene, who welcomed the fresh deal stated that since the aim was being achieved, the expanded renewal to cover offshore was justified.
Mene said: “The report reaching us is that oil production has increased to 1.7 million barrels per day, which is very commendable. On that note, if the purpose of the contract is being achieved, why should anyone want it reviewed or stopped?
He argued that decentralisation of the contract would lead to abuse.
“Rather, I will ask that Tompolo and the beneficiaries of the contract be a little bit more inclusive, by carrying others along. If you loosen the control so much, it might be out of control and difficult to manage,” the ILoT secretary added.
IYC, which commended President Bola Tinubu and NNPCL for the development, said it was impressed by Tantita’s feat.
Its Spokesman, Princewill Binebai, said: “We appreciate President Tinubu for listening to the voices of the IYC and other critical stakeholders in the Niger Delta region.
“For us as critical stakeholders in the region, the IYC will always champion the call for resource control. Every Nigerian has seen how Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited has worked tirelessly in safeguarding pipelines in the region, causing improved oil production in the country, within the last year.
“Those from outside the Niger Delta region protesting and talking about oil pipelines’ surveillance and maintenance contract to desist from such unpatriotic act, as we see such act as an insult to the Niger Delta people. They should allow people that host the oil and gas in this country to breathe.”
Chairman of the CSOs in Akwa Ibom State, Harry Udoh, said TSSNL had done a good job and deserved the contract renewal.
Udoh faulted the call for decentralisation of the contract, saying that the government should be careful so as not to reward lawlessness.
His words: “Tantita has done a good job of the initial contact awarded to it in August 2022. Our pipelines are secure under him and so it deserves the three-year expanded renewal.
“The contract is not a compensation for the Niger Delta agitation, but a genuine initiative to protect the nation’s oil facilities.
“We are opposed to the government decentralising the contract to other ex-agitators because it is not necessary. The government should not be seen to be rewarding brigandage, militants and perpetrators of violence.
“Rather the government should strengthen and fund the amnesty programme and make it more meaningful for the ex-agitators.”
Also, Ani Esin, special adviser to Governor Bassey Otu on Niger Delta Affairs, said: “In as much as I am a believer in unity, I support the contract being given to someone who has the capacity and integrity to deliver.”
Esin advised that the deal should include terms that would “sublet parts of it to stakeholders of the communities the pipelines run through.”
Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Peter Uwadia-Igbinigie, also described the renewal of the contract as a step in the right direction.
Uwadia-Igbinigie hailed Tinubu for the initiative, saying it would go a long way to move the Niger Delta and Nigeria forward.
However the IPC differed, warning that the centralisation of the pipelines’ surveillance contract is a time bomb.
It wondered why the NNPCL re-awarded the whole contract to a single company in spite of calls for the inclusion of firms owned by people whose areas host pipelines.
IPC Chairman Livingstone Wechie accused the NNPCL of insensitivity and indiscretion.
Wechie said: “The NNPCL appears to have exhibited some level of insensitivity and indiscretion on this award, knowing that the Niger Delta region is multi-ethnic and diversified.
“As IPC worldwide, we have no prejudice whatsoever against Chief Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, because he is as of right a stakeholder in the Niger Delta, who has paid his dues within his own clime. Nobody is asking for the termination of Tompolo’s contract, and that should be on record.
“However, it must be made very clear that the NNPCL presumed oversight whether advertently or inadvertently in centralising this pipelines surveillance contract within its current status is a deliberate promotion of avoidable conflict and in bad faith.
“The question is what is the interest of the NNPCL in turning deaf ears to this demand for a review towards the decentralisation of the pipelines’ surveillance contract to domesticate it within the competent locals or stakeholders, based on local government areas and communities or ethnic blocks arrangements?”
The IPC warned that NNPCL had by its action renewed a conflict capable of threatening the existing peace in the Niger Delta.
He said: “It is my view as a stakeholder that a three-year expanded renewal by the NNPCL of the pipeline surveillance contract awarded is a renewal of a brewing conflict, which is avoidable if the issues are not resolved.
“There are strong suspicions that a further insistence by the NNPCL to sustain this order is aimed at protecting some vested interests. Anybody who genuinely means well for the Niger Delta will listen to this demand.
“The Niger Delta struggle and the ongoing insecurity do not affect only one tribe, but everyone, and so the ostensible ethnic preference and entitlement is something that must be wisely corrected because the capacity for the security of the pipelines is not exclusive.”
The IPC chairman urged the NNPCL to still do the needful in order to ensure peace in the Niger Delta.
