As the initiative by the Federal Government to involve local security surveillance against the activities of oil thieves manifests in relative progress in terms of improved oil production and exploration, President Bola Tinubu has issued a fresh directive to security services and others to up their game. KUNLE ODEREMI writes on the prayer by the Niger Delta elite to consolidate and leverage on local security surveillance.
WITH comparative meagre resources, the founding fathers of modern Nigeria were able to lay a solid foundation and chart a good beginning for the country at independence in October 1960. Then, revenues accruing from agriculture were deployed in lubricating the engine of economic growth and development by the visionary leadership at the then three regions. However, by the 1970s, crude oil began to displace agriculture from its prime position as a main revenue export earner.
With the vault awash with petrol dollars, the ruling elite relegated agriculture to the background, promoting profligacy instead. Oil, the goose that was laying the golden egg, was crowned king by the political class but their lack of clear-cut vision and foresight, coupled with a whimsical approach to governance systematically led to the collapse of a hitherto promising economy.
The huge crude oil deposits, apparently, turned into a curse and miasma of uncertainty for nation. Environmental degradation, militancy, oil theft, among other issues frustrated the bid by the country to explore and derive maximum benefits from the abundant gains in the ‘black gold’ exploration and exploitation. However, the most intractable among these issues is oil theft, which the NIITI said has led to a loss of $1.84 billion worth of petroleum products from refineries in nine years, even as successive civilian administrations since 1999 try to muster the necessary political will to tackle the menace head-on.
For instance, last Tuesday, the Federal Government again voiced its concern on the awful impact of the ugly phenomenon. The helmsman at the octopus Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari informed that President Bola Tinubu had ordered more pragmatic collaboration among stakeholders, including the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, to tame the menace of oil theft and vandalism in the Niger Delta. “The truth about it is that whatever is happening in the South-South has been ongoing for such a very long time. We feel it is high time that it is stopped. What we are promising Nigerians is that henceforth, the entire South-South will be cleared of any acts of vandalism, or criminality within the general area,” Musa said.
Data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission indicated that crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism, among other factors, constrain Nigeria from achieving OPEC oil production quotas. The implication is that a substantial amount of revenues that should accrue to the country for development and growth are lost due to the shortfall in crude oil production and export. The situation is compounded by oil theft, which an assessment delegation deployed to the Niger Delta by President Tinubu, last year, promised to tackle squarely. Led by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam, Nuhu Ribadu, the team comprised the Minister of Defence, Malam Muhammed Badaru, service chiefs and the minister of state for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri. It uncovered an illegal oil connection in Owaza in Abia State through which the country losing an average of $7.2 million monthly. The haemorrhage was further underscored by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Abbas Tajudeen, who decried that Nigeria loses an estimated 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day to oil theft, pipeline vandalism, and other forms of criminality. He estimated the cumulative revenue losses to the tune of N1.29 trillion annually.
Interventions
The concerted moves to restore sanity have led to some interventions that succeeded in achieving some measures of success. One of them was the programme of rehabilitation for militants that fought against the injustice and deprivation done to the region due to oil exploration. Similarly, the anguish being expressed by the region gave rise to the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC). Stakeholders in the region used the opportunity of a special summit convened by the commission last week in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital to assess its impact, challenges and chart the way forward.
A former governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Seriake Dickson representing Bayelsa West in the National Assembly also decried how oil theft has become a stubborn growth in the quest by the Niger Delta to fully progress. He queried: “Why should a country like Nigeria that has been producing oil, exporting oil for the past 70 years not have a scientific way of metering, recording what leaves, what is pumped, what is sold and what is not sold?”
Before now, years of the presence of members of the security services of the country have not been able to resolve the riddle behind the activities of the cabal involved in the oil theft. The ceaseless disruptions in oil output in 2022, for instance, caused oil production to decline less than one million barrels per day in contrast to the 1.8 million bpd quota allocated to the country by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The crisis inspired the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and the federal authorities to initiate further collaboration and integration of real stakeholders in the region into the battle against the crude oil theft.
The idea of public cum private partnership in the search for a practical solution to the menace led to the NNPC and indeed the federal government to engage a former Niger Delta agitator, Government Ekpemupolo (aka) Tompolo and his company, Tantita Security Services (TSS) Ltd. The mandate was to check the criminal activities of the oil thieves that have not only harmed the environment and local communities but also cost the country billions of dollars in lost revenue. The situation was further complicated by the criminals who deployed advanced technology to burrow into pipeline systems and siphon oil.
However, the fresh initiative soon paid off as the country gradually upped production by 50 percent. According to latest data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), production from all sources rose to 1.5 million barrels per day in June 2024. According to Ekpemupolo, Tantita is tackling the scourge of illegal oil bunkering through a comprehensive and inclusive strategy aimed at not only halting the illegal activity but also educating and engaging those involved on the need to halt their nefarious activities. He said that by ‘carrying everybody along’ the strategy was meant to address the root causes of the crisis and promote sustainable solutions, stressing his preference for a peaceful Niger Delta. The Tantita chief stated that the unfortunate thing was that the people involved do not understand the magnitude of destruction going on in the environment. “So, we continue to engage them, enlighten them, and give them some part of the work to do, so that they will be part and parcel of what we are doing. We are now working with women, our fathers, and everybody to see that we follow the right path because we don’t have any other place to call our country. That is the reason we don’t also want to be second-class citizens in this country because we produce the oil that feeds everybody in this nation,” he stated.
The NNPC’s aspiration to increase production to at least two million bpd has still not yet been achieved. But significant progress has been made by the company leading the charge to rid the Niger Delta of crude oil theft. This has also drawn accolades from several quarters, including traditional rulers, senators, reps members, ministers as well as ordinary Nigerians, who have expressed their confidence in the company’s ability to deliver results and ensure the success of the pipeline security project.
Prominent traditional rulers and key stakeholders from the Niger Delta region that have spoken in support of the ongoing efforts include, among others, is His Royal Majesty Obukowo Whiskey, paramount ruler of Ijere Kingdom in Delta State.
“We are talking of critical national infrastructure, the oil infrastructure. For you to protect them, you need to have a large heart, you need to have a synergy with all the critical stakeholders, and that is exactly what High Chief Government Tompolo is doing. I want to encourage all our Niger Delta people to key into this project, and I tell the federal government to continue to sustain this project,” Whiskey said.
With a team of highly trained personnel and state-of-the-art technology, Tantita says it is set out to continually detect and prevent oil theft as well as reduce the environmental impact of oil pollution. The company insists that its approach has been highly effective.
Managing Director of Tantita Security Services, Keston Pondi, along with some management staff, including Capt. Warredi Enisuo, Executive Director of Operations and Technical, reiterated Tantita’s commitment to combating oil theft and ensuring the protection of Nigeria’s oil resources. He submitted: “Tompolo is 100 percent committed to eradicating this menace of illegal oil theft and refining from the Niger Delta. One of the reasons being that it degrades the environment, it destroys our environment, it creates health hazards for our people. Another one is that with this kind of contract, we are going to have employment abundantly for our teeming youths, and then it will definitely increase production in the oil industry,” said Pondi. Enisuo is in charge of operations of the firm. He said the chairman of Tantita Security Services, Ekpemupolo has given marching orders on what to do to tackle the menace of oil theft. “The marching order was simple: You must make sure that you go out there and clean up everything that’s necessary. I remember vividly when I went on my first tour of the Creeks regarding this whole adventure. There were fishes floating belly up, and you could smell crude oil. The moment the tide goes down, you could see crude oil hanging from the branches of the mangroves. That was how bad things were. When we discovered the sophistication with which most of the international groups perpetrate these crimes, we had no choice than to invest in high-level technology. That is where we had to employ the use of drones with infrared capability. Most of the criminals do perpetrate their crimes at night, and that is where drone technology with infrared capability comes into play. So, at night, when we fly our long-range drones, medium-range drones, over certain areas, anything that is friendly will continue to remain the way it is. But anything that we suspect becomes white. That has made it very easy for us to detect when people are planning to do nefarious things against the country or give us a chance to go in and interrogate to check if they are doing the right thing. That is why we have been very, very successful when it comes to the technology side of things,” he stated.
Many other prominent Nigerians are also interested in sustaining the tempo of surveillance brought about the firm and its owner, Ekpemupolo. They emphasized on the need to build on the existing achievement to ensure that the country further boosts crude oil output. The personalities include the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dakuku Peterside, and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Mike Ozekome. They urged Tantita to sustain and intensify its efforts to further shore up Nigeria’s daily crude oil production and solidify the company’s impact on the country and globally. “I want to use this medium to congratulate Government Ekpemupolo for what they are doing in terms of security and securing the pipeline against vandalism and also theft of crude oil. They’ve increased it to 1.6 million barrels per day now. But, we are imploring that they should do more and increase it to 2.6 million to 3 million barrels per day so that the effect of dollar and the pressure on naira will come down in Nigeria,” Oba Ogunwusi said. On his part, Peterside said Tantita’s security was adding value to the battle against oil theft and vandalism in the region. He said: “You can see that oil production has gone up; theft has reduced and indeed that’s what we need as a country. We need to earn more foreign exchange and you can’t ignore the little contribution they are making in that area.” In the same vein, Ozekhome advised Tompolo to continue to secure the assets and increase oil production, as well as make the coastal areas safer for business activities.
Tantita lists some of its specific successes since 2022 to include securing over 1,200km of pipelines, dismantling over 500 illegal bunkering sites, arresting and prosecuting over 300 oil thieves and preventing an estimated 20 million barrels of oil from being stolen. The Head, Media and Publicity at Tantita Security Services, Paul Bebenimibo, noted that the company was committed to plugging all loopholes in the nation’s oil and gas sector to restore general sanity. Enisuo insists that without the cooperation of the NNPC, it would have been very difficult to see the level of progress being made today. “The people we are fighting are not just local cartels; they are international cartels as well. At some point, even the GCEO’s life was under threat; even our own gallant officers, who have been part of this war, have been threatened. So, that is to tell you how bad the situation is,” he stated.
Chairman of the House Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Fred Agbedi, and Julius Pondi, Chairman of the House Committee on Environment, specifically acknowledged that ongoing efforts have led to a significant increase in crude oil output. He asserted: “The amount of ships that penetrate the creeks for the purpose of stealing crude oil has reduced drastically. Now, most of the ships that had the boldness to even come inside the creeks to load directly from the trunk lines are beginning to be scared, and that is why they are now targeting the platforms outside.” Agbedi said that Tantita should be given the opportunity to also watch both coastal and deep waters so as to stop stealing of Nigeria’s crude.
The view of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Senator Lokpobiri is that Nigeria is making progress in oil earnings following improvements in security in the Niger Delta. He noted that the twin problem of pipeline vandalism and illegal bunkering has become an existential problem, adding “We need to fight these criminals to submission. As a responsible government, we’ve decided that we’re going to put a stop to it. We’re going to work with stakeholders to ensure that we stop all this nonsense from continuing. I want to use the opportunity to express our gratitude to Tantita as was commissioned by NNPC to be able to do some work. But we need to do a lot more to ensure that this thing is put to a total stop,” he added.
Former Governor Dickson, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Ecology and Climate Change, also encouraged by the involvement of the subsisting partnership in combating pipeline vandalism and oil theft and mitigating the environmental impact. “I want to use this opportunity to appreciate my younger brother, GOC, as we call him, Tompolo and Tantita, for the contributions they are making in the area of stopping vandalism of strategic national assets within this territory. I want to thank him and Tantita for reducing illegal bunkering and for also trying their best in reducing the environmental dangers occasioned by the illegal refineries and those who are operating them and the way they tamper with pipelines and cause spillage and pollution on our farmlands and our waterways. I have said over and over that the good thing that the Federal Government, the NNPC and all the agencies have done is by engaging a man who understands the terrain. But, a lot still has to be done,” Senator Dickson stated.
With the necessary political will coming from official quarters, stakeholders within and outside the Niger Delta are optimistic that Nigeria could be on the rise again if the battle against oil theft runs at full throttle and based on amity and integrity through the combined efforts on surveillance.
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