PORT HARCOURT—Former President, Ijaw Youths Council, IYC, Worldwide, Udengs Eradiri, has called on President Bola Tinubu to ignore calls for the cancellation of the oil and gas security surveillance contract awarded to the Tantita Security Services, TSS, owned by Government Ekpemupolo, popularly called Tompolo.
This came as a civil society organisation, Global Network for Good Governance and Rights Concern Initiative, called on the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, to immediately terminate the multi-billion naira pipeline surveillance contract.
He said it was shocking that some people could out of jealousy and hatred for Tompolo, be against the firm that had done a lot to stabilise the security and peace of the region.
Eradiri, a former Commissioner for Youths and later Environment in Bayelsa State, described the Tantita’s surveillance contract as one of the positive things inherited and sustained by the Tinubu’s administration, noting that it had stopped the conflicts that led to the decline in oil production.
Group demands termination of contract
The group, led by its Executive Director, Dennis Mene, in a statement in Warri, Delta State, argued that entrusting the protection of oil pipelines and other strategic national infrastructure to private entities undermines the constitutional responsibilities of the nation’s armed forces and security institutions, including the Navy, which are mandated to safeguard the country’s territorial and economic integrity.
The group also raised concerns over the transparency surrounding the multi-billion naira pipeline surveillance contract reportedly worth about N48 billion annually, questioning the procurement process and whether the contract was subjected to an open and competitive bidding procedure.
It further alleged that the concentration of such contracts within a particular ethnic group in Niger Delta has generated growing resentment among other stakeholders, including the Isoko, Kalabari and Itsekiri communities, who believe they are being sidelined in matters relating to the protection of resources located in their ancestral areas.
, advocating instead for a decentralised and community-based surveillance framework that would involve stakeholders from all oil-producing states through a transparent and inclusive process.
