At just 50, Matthew Tonlagha’s life has orbited the full cycle of human accomplishments. From general welfare, education support, healthcare provision, community development, youth empowerment, job and wealth creation, and security of lives and physical infrastructure. In case, you don’t know him, Tonlagha is the Chairman of Maton Engineering and vice chairman of Tantita Security Services. He hit the golden age on February 8, this year. And it was a national celebration.
A buzz full of substance and laden with significance. But the buzz was not for nothing. It was a testament to the impactful life of Tonlagha, especially in the oil and gas sector where his footprints are boldly expressed. The two enterprises he’s involved in play huge roles in oil exploration and security of oil and gas facilities especially in the difficult to navigate creeks of the oil-rich Niger Delta.
What stands him out is that he’s a home-grown entrepreneur. A made-in-Nigeria solution provider. A grassroots man devoted to the advancement of his community, his state and the nation at large. Endowed with natural brilliance and a wide knowledge bandwidth too exuberant to ignore, he has become a role model to many Nigerian youths. An exemplar of the truism that hard work has its due reward. Tonlagha is a futuristic and strategic thinker. This reflects in the manner he is handling operations at Tantita, whose chairman is the courageous Oweizdel Thomas Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo).
To properly situate and appreciate the relevance of Tonlagha, let’s do a little inquisition into the state of the nation’s oil and gas sector. It was a sector fraught with fraud, brazen oil theft, sometimes on ship-load scales. At a time, the Niger Delta, the patch of earth that bears the oil, was a theatre of unbridled militancy, upheavals and agitations by listless youths who felt a sense of alienation from the benefits accruing from the crude oil drilled from their veins. Like the proverbial story of a woman scorned, the youths, justifiably so, raged and rallied against the Nigerian government and the oil majors that often treated them and the Niger Delta people with disdain.
This sense of injustice bred a wide range of challenges that impacted negatively on oil production. The consequences were dire for Nigeria – low revenue from oil, illegal bunkering, artisanal crude oil theft, and destruction of oil infrastructure. At a time, Nigeria’s oil production sunk to an all-time low, falling far short of OPEC quota. But all that changed in September 2022 when the Federal Government through the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, awarded oil infrastructure surveillance contract to Tantita Security Services. That was the masterstroke that pulled Nigeria from the brink of acute oil production downturn.
The impact was instant. Oil theft reduced by 79% between 2022 and 2023 with average production rising from one million barrels per day and peaking at 1.8m barrels/day by end of 2024. This was no magic. It came out of a deeper understanding of the causes of the agitations that defined militancy in the Niger Delta. Tantita quickly moved in, engaged the once restive but idle youths, collapsed the structures that divided the people from the traditional leaders and other stakeholders in the communities. Suddenly, the youths became engaged. They were employed, those who could handle small contracts were given. They committed to the ideal of Tantita and owned the entire ecosystem of protecting oil infrastructure in the region. Tantita simply democratised wealth in the Niger Delta through active stakeholder engagements especially the youths.
And peace, real peace, returned to the creeks. What was thought impossible became possible. Nigeria began to earn more money, thieving cartels and transnational syndicates of corruption in the oil sector were dismantled. For once in decades of oil exploration and exploitation, the youths became active participants in the oil production value chain. Government’s engagement of Tantita became the silver bullet that settled all the dust of crisis in the Niger Delta. Tompolo and his oil and gas business partner had been the ones driving the pulley of peace in the Niger Delta and ensuring that Nigeria ups it production in recent years.
There are copious reasons to appreciate the role of Tonlagha in the new push by the government to drive oil production to over 2 million barrels/day. First, here is a home-grown entrepreneur playing at the big stage of oil exploration, logistics and infrastructure protection. It is sure proof that Nigerians, not foreigners, are the solution to the multi-dimensional challenges bearing down on the nation. Tonlagha has proven to the world that Nigerians are capable of standing up and confronting their fears. In the oil and gas sector where foreign firms have held sway with clear command and control influence over the decades, Tonlagha has popped up to re-calibrate the dashboard and he has done so with stellar results.
The man who has ensured more earnings for Nigeria in oil and gas, is also a role model for many Nigerian youths. He is an example of men who turned adversity to advantage. After becoming a victim of wrong anti-polio medication in early life which affected his mobility and delayed his educational pursuit, he overcame all the odds to crest the curve of life. His experience would later shape his disposition to life, turning him into a philanthropist, nation-builder, community pillar and avid believer in the potency of the mercy of God.
A fervid supporter of President Bola Tinubu and believer in his vision of a prosperous Nigeria codified in Renewed Hope agenda, Tonlagha has all by himself consistently promoted Nigeria’s image in the eyes of the world. His role in sustaining discourses and liaison between Washington and Abuja through strategic consultations is undeniable. That’s the manifestation of a patriot, a man proud of his country and would never hold back to ensure its pride of place in the comity of nations.
Those who sulk and whine over their place of birth and poor ancestry should look to the story of Tonlagha for inspiration. He had his secondary education at Ugborikoko Secondary School and later in his home community of Benikrukru both in Delta State, he did not allow the rustic ruralness of his community to define him. Instead, he, in no time, drew global attention to his community.
When he turned 50, an assortment of goodwill messages from networth Nigerians graced the media space. President Tinubu, former President Goodluck Jonathan, serving and former governors, politicians, business people, lawyers’ group, civil society organisations, technocrats, socio-cultural organisations, among others, serenaded him for his philanthropy, environmental activism, wealth-creation initiatives, compassion for humanity, for being a bridge between generations, community development drive and oil infrastructure protection.
Truly, Tonlagha is not only a success, he’s a symbol of hope for the hopeless and a living evidence of how grace and mercy of God can coalesce for the sake of one person.
· Okude, a public policy analyst, writes from Abuja
