A socio-cultural body, the Southern Ijaw Unity Forum, has advised the President Bola Tinubu-led government not to decentralise the pipeline surveillance contract.
According to the group, no substantial progress has been made in the war against oil theft and pipeline vandalism since the President Muhammadu Buhari administration first awarded the surveillance contract.
Oil theft, the group alleges, remains a major challenge in the quest to unlock the mileage in the Petroleum Industry Act despite reforms carried out in the sector in the past few years by successive administrations.
In a statement issued on Monday, the chairman of the Forum, Timothy Amadiowei, said the Federal Government failed to heed wise counsel from the onset, noting that oil theft has continued to be a major threat in the nation’s quest to revive the economy.
The forum called on Tinubu, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Bashir Ojulari, and the National Security Adviser, Nihu Ribadu, to take the bold step in correcting “The errors made by the past administration, and yield to the demand of the Niger Delta people that the pipeline surveillance contracts be decentralised and shared among all deserving stakeholders.”
The statement added, “The only solution to oil theft and illegal refining of petroleum products is decentralisation, because nobody is happy with the anomalies on ground.
“Every stakeholder is angry with the current arrangement…
“Carry everybody along, and you’ll see the difference, and I can tell you boldly that there are renowned ex-agitators who have the answers the government is seeking, but they are just watching the Federal Government struggle because the government has failed to approach them for help.”
Highlighting the potential benefits of decentralisation, Amadkowei added, “Let everybody secure their own domains, because if anybody is doing illegal bunkering in my community, I know them and I know how to deal with them, but a stranger does not know them and so it’s difficult to stop them.
“If you are from Delta State, stay in Delta and secure the pipelines in your area. If you are from Rivers State, stay in Rivers and secure the pipelines there. If you are from Bayelsa, stay there and secure pipelines there, likewise the other states producing crude oil and gas.”
“This is not the time to re-award all the pipeline surveillance jobs in the entire Niger Delta to one man. This is the time to share it among the major stakeholders so that they can cover the whole area to put an end to oil theft,” he added.
Over the years, stakeholders from the six states of the Niger Delta have clamoured for the FG to review and decentralise the crude oil and gas pipeline surveillance contracts it awarded in the region.
They argued that decentralisation would curb insecurity across the pipelines and enhance the security of pipelines on waterways.
