By Nicholas Ojo
The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday endorsed the Federal Government’s N48 billion oil pipeline surveillance contract to Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo.
The Federal Government had recently announced the award of the multi-billion Naira surveillance contract to Tompolo to curtail oil theft across the Niger Delta region.
The award of the contract to Tompolo has elicited criticisms, but Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPCL, had said the federal government made “the right decision”.
Kyari had alleged that security agencies, churches, mosques and communities where pipelines pass through were involved in pipeline vandalism and theft of petroleum products in the Niger Delta.
Defending the government’s decision to award the pipeline surveillance contract to the former militant leader, Kyari said, “We need private contractors to man the right of way to these pipelines.
“So, we put up a framework for contractors to come and bid and they were selected through a tender process. And we believe we made the right decision.”
A non-governmental organisation, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) described the government’s award of the pipeline surveillance contract to Ekpemupolo as a promotion of criminality.
Auwal Musa, the executive director of CISLAC, while speaking on the development, said awarding such a contract to an ex-militant is questionable.
“What is the value of the investments and allocations made from the national treasury to the numerous security paraphernalia in Nigeria if an ex-militant is seen to be more competent to deliver on security issues than the entire armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Musa said.
“It is really sad that the Nigerian government is promoting criminality because what they have practically done is encourage criminality.
“So, criminals can take up arms against the state and they can now rubbish our own security; the police, navy, army, and DSS, meaning all of them cannot secure the country or the oil pipelines. One day, the Nigerian government will come and hire terrorists to guide us. This is really terrible,” he added.
However, Senator Albert Akpan, Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), on Tuesday, confirmed the Red Chamber’s approval.
The lawmaker who spoke with newsmen in Abuja after presenting the report of the Senate ad hoc committee on oil lifting and theft, stated that there was nothing wrong with engaging non-state actors to secure oil pipelines, in as much as the contract was yielding desired results.
He said, “There are both formal and informal approaches to solving the issue.
“f that contract was contracted duly and processed, we don’t have any issue with it and if it yields desired outcomes, I don’t think there is anything wrong in it,” he said.