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From Tony John, Port Harcourt and Paul Osuyi, Asaba
President Bola Tinubu’s National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, has said the Federal Government would sustain its partnership with Tantita Security Services Limited in curbing oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
The NSA, who spoke this during a tour of government assets in some Niger Delta states added that the government would soon take additional measures to ensure pipeline security in the region.
“We have done very well to get to where we are now. We are certainly going to take more measures. So far, things are beginning to change. Give us little time and you will see things change for the better.”
Government also expressed its gratitude to Tantita management, for their efforts in pipeline protection in the Niger Delta.
Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, during his tour of oil facilities in the Niger Delta, gave this commendation during the tour of oil facilities.
In company with Ribadu, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, Lokopobiri said the Tinubu-led administration was determined to stop all forms of pipeline vandalism and oil theft in the country.
He said: “We’re here because of the problem of pipeline vandalisation and illegal bunkering that is going on in the Niger Delta. I believe that it has become an existential problem and we need to fight them. We need to fight these criminals to submission.
“What is happening here is so bad that we cannot even know the implications unless maybe when people start dying in their numbers that is when people will know that a few persons who were profiting from this crime are here to wipe all of them out. So, as a responsible government, we have decided that we are going to put a stop to it. We are going to work with stakeholders to ensure that we stop all this nonsense in our society. We are not going to allow them.
“I also want to seize this opportunity to express our gratitude to Tantita that has been commissioned by the NNPCL to be able to do some work but we are going to do a lot more.”
Tantila is owned by former militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo.)
Renew surveillance contract
In a separate statement, an oil exploration monitoring group, the Niger Delta Indigenous Movement For Radical Change (NDIMRC), called on President Bola Tinubu to renew the Tantila pipelines surveillance contract for the benefit of the nation.
The group said no effort should be spared by the Federal Government in collaborating with Tompolo in protecting critical oil and gas infrastructure and securing permanent peace in the oil rich Niger Delta region.
In the statement signed by its president, Nelly Emma; secretary, John Sailor and Stanley Mukoro, public relations officer, the group advised Tinubu to go ahead and renew the pipelines surveillance contract to the repentant former warlord, saying he has helped the nation greatly.
It described Tompolo as a man of peace who wants the best always for the nation and the people, but being fought by unpatriotic elements in the country who are bent on crippling the nation’s economy through the stealing of crude oil. It also implored the Federal Government to collaborate with Tompolo in the area of securing permanent peace in the region and increasing oil production.
“Let it be known, Mr. President, that some of these agitators and faceless stakeholders are being sponsored by the oil bunkerers and hiding under the cover of the APC. Our president should not give these so called agitators and their co-traveIlers that room to do whatever they want to do because they and their sponsors do not mean well for the nation. We want to implore the President that the NNPCL and the National Security Adviser (NSA) should be encouraged to reveal the names of those behind illegal oil bunkering. When the current NSA was the chairman of the EFCC, he did very well in the fight against corruption and so we are expecting him to support NNPCL fully in fighting corruption in the oil sector for our production to go up and the common man will benefit greatly.
“Some of these agitators being sponsored by those stealing our crude oil are working directly with the NNPCL to guide our pipelines and we are using this medium to call on NNPCL that these agitators being used by oil bunkerers and have been paid heavily by their sponsors should be shown the way out because they and their sponsors are saboteurs who are doing everything possible to frustrate the process already put in place by Tompolo.
“Before the award of the pipeline surveillance contract to Tompolo last year, we were only producing 700,000 barrels of oil per day, but it has risen to over 1.6 million barrels per day. The ex-militant who is waging this serious protest against the renewal of the contract for Tompolo do not even have a drop of oil in Ondo State, the oil in the area belongs to the IIajes and his area do not have a single oil and he is also the one working in the AKK Gas project of the NNPCL and NNPCL should know that he is the one being used by those stealing our crude oil to wage protest against the big wigs in NNPCL and Tompolo. The searchlight should be beamed on him.”
Break Abuja oil cartel
However, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, said until the Federal Government clamps down on powerful Abuja cartel bankrolling oil theft, no amount of efforts would end the economic sabotage associated with the crime.
“We (Rivers) are one of the first states that was able to break the ranks on illegal bunkering, and we remain committed to partnering with the security agencies. And what breeds all of this is unemployment and poverty. The big people in this business aren’t from here (operating environment). They are those in Abuja who have licence to operate.
“If they are not encouraging it, I don’t think it will thrive. We need to work, not just on the locals, but also see what we can do to really clamp down on those big ones that sit in Abuja that are a big part of this.”
