Oil Pipeline Surveillance contract: IYC allege those behind decentralisation campaign are major actors in illegal oil theft

……As IYC throw weight behind current surveillance structure says Nation’s Asset safer with Tompolo, Tantita

Leadership of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), Central Zone has declared their support for the current Oil Pipeline surveillance structure in the Niger Delta region, declaring that the nation’s asset in the creeks and waterways is more safer with the Tantita Security Service Nigeria Limited owned by the foremost former Freedom fighter, High Chief Goverment Ekpemupolo also known as Tompolo.

According to the IYC leadership, despite the questionable campaign of calnumy being sponsored by suspected actors in past incidence of oil theft and pipeline vandalisation, the oil installations and pipelines under the leadership of Tompolo and Tantita in the Westemrn Corridor, have recorded significant success and reduced, pipeline vandalism and make host communities became more cooperative with security efforts.

The Chairman of the Ijaw Youths Council, Central Zone, Comrade Iniefe Perokusefa, while addressing the enlarged house of Ijaw Youths at the Ijaw House in Yenagoa, argued that the decentralised arrangement practised in the past failed across most corridors of the Niger Delta, except in the Western Corridor, which was under the leadership of High Chief (Dr) Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo.

According to him, “under Tompolo’s leadership in the Western Corridor, pipeline protection recorded significant success. Oil theft was reduced, pipeline vandalism was curtailed, and host communities became more cooperative with security efforts.”

“Unfortunately, in several other corridors controlled by many of the same actors now championing decentralisation, pipeline protection efforts collapsed almost completely. Crude oil theft continued unabated, illegal pipeline connections multiplied, vandalism increased, and Nigeria’s oil production suffered severe losses.”

” The failure of that decentralised arrangement compelled the Federal Government to revoke the fragmented structure and consolidate the surveillance contract under Ocean Marine Solutions Limited.”

“However, even that structure could not contain the complex criminal networks responsible for organised crude oil theft across the Niger Delta.By 2022, Nigeria’s oil production had fallen to one of the lowest levels in the country’s modern petroleum history.”

‘At the time Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited was engaged by the Federal Government, towards the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, Nigeria was producing barely around 800,000 barrels of crude oil per day-far below its production capacity.”

“The Nigerian economy was under immense pressure. Government revenues were declining, and the country faced the real threat of losing credibility in the global energy market. This situation resulted in severe economic hardship and recessionary pressures.”

“It was within this context of national emergency that the Federal Government engaged Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, under the leadership of High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, to replicate the success previously recorded under President Goodluck Jonathan-this time within a broader framework covering the Western and Central Corridors.”

” The assignment given to Tantita was clear: restore order in the creeks, secure the pipelines, dismantle the criminal networks responsible for crude oil theft, and restore Nigeria’s oil production capacity.”

“Today, the results speak louder than propaganda.Since Tantita assumed responsibility in 2022, Nigeria has witnessed a dramatic improvement in pipeline security and oil production stability.Hundreds of illegal tapping points have been discovered and dismantled.”

“Thousands of illegal refining sites have been destroyed. Pipeline vandalism has significantly reduced. Vessels previously loitering in shallow offshore areas to facilitate oil theft have largely ceased operations due to sustained enforcement actions by Tantita.”

“Host communities that were once deeply entangled in illegal oil activities are now actively collaborating with surveillance teams to protect national assets.”

“These achievements have directly contributed to the recovery of Nigeria’s oil production and the stabilisation of national revenue. It is for this reason that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu could confidently state that state governments are no longer struggling to secure loans, as there is now access to steady monthly revenue.”

“Beyond security operations,
Tantita has also achieved something
unprecedented in the history of private oil infrastructure protection in the Niger Delta. The company has engaged and empowered more local communities than any other private security or surveillance organisation in the region.”

“Thousands of youths across Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Edo, Ondo, and other parts of the Niger Delta have been directly or indirectly employed in pipeline protection activities. Former operators of illegal refining camps have been rehabilitated and integrated into lawful economic activities.”

“Community leaders, traditional rulers, youth groups, and women’s
organisations have all been incorporated into a collaborative framework that promotes local ownership of pipeline security. No private company operating in the Niger Delta has achieved this scale of grassroots engagement.”

” It is therefore both ironic and suspicious that, at a time when the Niger Delta is experiencing relative peace and improved economic stability, certain individuals are aggressively campaigning for the dismantling of the current surveillance structure.
26. We must therefore ask the question that many Nigerians are already asking:”
Why are these individuals suddenly desperate to decentralise a system that is clearly working?”

“The answer is not difficult to discern. The current operational structure under Tantita has drastically reduced opportunities for organised crude oil theft.Many of those now advocating decentralisation were prominent actors during the era when illegal oil bunkering thrived across the Niger Delta.”

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