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By Tracy Moses
A socio-cultural organization, the Southern Ijaw Unity Forum has urged the federal government not to renew the pipeline surveillance contracts of the current holders whose agreements have expired. Instead, it called for decentralization of the contracts to include all major Niger Delta stakeholders.
According to the group, Nigeria is making no headway in the fight against crude oil theft, pipeline sabotage, and illegal refining, despite the billions of naira already committed to security contracts.
In a statement issued on Monday, the Forum’s chairman, Comrade Timothy Amadiowei, blamed the failure on the government’s refusal to heed early advice. He said this mistake gave room for oil theft to flourish under the guise of surveillance, provoked unrest in the Niger Delta, and led to the unlawful detention of innocent persons, actions that damage Nigeria’s reputation internationally.
Amadiowei faulted the past administration of Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for being misled into believing that one individual held authority over the Niger Delta. According to him, this misconception led to the awarding of the entire pipeline surveillance contract to a single person, sidelining other well-known ex-agitators who had contributed to peace and stability in the region.
He argued that many respected figures, such as Alhaji Asari Dokubo and Endurance Amagbein, were overlooked despite their sacrifices for the APC-led government. Instead of sharing the contracts equitably among ex-militants, the federal government concentrated it in the hands of one person who has failed to carry others along.
“The truth is that the government is only winning this war against oil theft on paper and in the media,” Amadiowei stated. “In reality, illegal bunkering and adulterated fuel sales are thriving daily across the country.”
He therefore appealed to President Bola Tinubu, the NNPCL Group CEO, Mr. Bashir Ojulari, and the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to correct the mistakes of the past and heed the call for decentralization in order to satisfy the yearnings of the Niger Delta people.
Amadiowei emphasized that the only workable solution is to spread the contracts among all stakeholders. He questioned the fairness of awarding a surveillance contract to one man from Delta State, with jurisdiction over just eight communities, to cover areas in Bayelsa and other states where he has no influence.
He added: “Involving all stakeholders will change the narrative. There are prominent ex-agitators who understand the terrain better than anyone else, but they are waiting for the federal government to consult them. If figures like Asari Dokubo, King Ateke Tom, and Endurance Amagbein are engaged, Nigerians will see real results.”
The Forum insisted that every stakeholder should take charge of his own territory. “If someone in my community is engaged in illegal bunkering, I know who they are and how to deal with them. Outsiders cannot do this effectively,” he said.
He therefore called on the federal government to abandon the idea of entrusting the entire surveillance of Niger Delta pipelines to one man. “Now is the time to share responsibility among all the key stakeholders in order to completely eradicate oil theft,” he added.