A NEW CHAPTER IN NIGER DELTA

The disagreement over the pipeline surveillance contracts is uncalled for, argues FRANK TIETIE  

In his magnum opus, titled ‘Niger Delta Rivalry’, renowned historian Obaro Ikime described the Niger Delta as a place occupied by peoples and ethnicities who would hardly cooperate about anything but would fight over almost everything. 

Beyond the natural resource curse of exploitation, environmental degradation, and large-scale human and material underdevelopment, the intense rivalry among the ethnic groups and peoples of the Niger Delta was the primary driver of unnecessary tensions that hindered the region’s development. From the Federal Government’s siting of a proposed Maritime University to the establishment of an oil and gas industrial park for the region, or any major maritime development, Niger Deltans, in a contest of ethnic supremacy, were prepared to go to war among themselves, driven by a strange sense of entitlement in determining who among them should benefit or not from such development. Knowing this about them, their oppressors have learnt ways to keep them fighting among themselves while the exploitation of their lands and people continues.

Against this backdrop, the recent claims by Alhaji Mujahid Asari Dokubo against the Olu of Warri, fitted into the pattern of unhealthy rivalry among the people of the Niger Delta. It is most counterproductive and against the interests of peace and development in the Niger Delta for an Ijaw leader to attack the respected monarch of the Itsekiri nation, Ogiame Atuwase III, the Olu of Warri. The Olu is the Chairman of the Board of Pipelines Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd (PINL), a company with substantial Niger Delta ownership operating a pipeline surveillance contract with NNPCL, like Tantita Security Services Ltd, which is operated by the respected Ijaw leader, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo). Both companies have been hailed by the NNPCL and the Federal Government for helping increase Nigeria’s crude oil production. 

Nigeria substantially expanded its pipeline surveillance and security arrangements during a massive oil-theft and pipeline-vandalism crisis in 2022. The production figures are hard to ignore. From the disastrous lows of 2022, when crude production fell below one million barrels per day, Nigeria has recovered to production levels approaching 1.8 million barrels per day. NEITI, NUPRC and NNPC data all show that indigenous community-based surveillance contractors such as PINL achieved this for Nigeria. Therefore, whatever disagreements may exist over the allocation of the contracts and their costs, firstly, it must be acknowledged that a security arrangement that has restored nearly 100% pipeline security, reduced disruption, and ensured a substantially higher production of crude oil for Nigeria should be commended.

At a time when it was once thought that the Nigerian government’s unofficial policy was to exclude the Niger Delta people from substantial participation in the oil and gas industry, it was a welcome development when the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2022 awarded pipeline surveillance contracts to indigenous companies operated by Niger Deltans. This came after the companies underwent rigorous, high-level scrutiny by the National Assembly and security agencies. Therefore, PINL was neither awarded the surveillance contracts on a sentimental basis nor with a sense of entitlement because it is operated largely by Niger Deltans. Though an indigenous company, PINL passed the tests of efficiency and good corporate governance which were established under its erstwhile Chairman, Hosa Wells Okunbo, which earned it an already existing long-standing security contract based on its track record. That was long before the current reign of Atuwase Ogiame III.

It is elementary that a company’s chairmanship does not necessarily equate to ownership, but it signals the integrity and reputational stability for which respected traditional rulers in the first-class category are known. While it is correct that PINL operates a substantial part of Nigeria’s pipeline-surveillance architecture, principally covering the Eastern Corridor of the Trans Niger Pipeline and associated infrastructure, NNPCL has not authoritatively disclosed the precise financial value and percentage allocation of the respective contracts, despite widely circulated and sharply disputed figures. 

Therefore, it is needless to stoke ethnic tensions in a region that has suffered so much neglect and underdevelopment because of conflict merchants. It is heartening that the era of mutual suspicion and baseless rivalry in the Niger Delta is fading away, and being replaced by a progressive generation that wants to promote unity, peace, and rapid development of the region and its people.

PINL’s policy and practice of scaling down its surveillance operations by engaging youths from oil and gas host communities in gainful employment to provide security and ancillary services has led to a new wave of progress and improved living standards for many families in the Niger Delta. Data have shown a drastic reduction in illegal bunkering and illegal refining of petroleum products.  What was once an area that recorded explosions of illegal refineries, with a population slowly dying from the heavy soot that flowed from the ‘kpo fire’ used for ‘cooking’ diesel, PINL’s activities have not only restored near 100% pipeline security and safety. Many of our angry young men have now been equipped with the critical skills to contribute to national development. 

The tide is turning in the Niger Delta. The region is gradually moving away from a history of violence and conflict, marked by rivalry among its ethnic nationalities. The era when its competent people were excluded from being major players in the oil and gas industry is coming to an end. No person or group in the region should feel entitled to the vast oil and gas resources to the exclusion of others who have also borne the brunt of crude oil exploration and production over the last 60 years.

Now is the time for the people of the Niger Delta to breathe the fresh air of peace and development. Beyond pipeline surveillance contracts, the Niger Delta people have much more to attain. World-class refineries and blending plants, oil and gas industrial parks, as the world has never seen, specialized training schools, including universities and centres for maritime and oceanography studies, international financial hubs and banks for the development of oil and gas industries and communities, and many more are yet to be established in the region, and to be owned by Niger Deltans. 

Only an atmosphere of mutual respect among the ethnic nationalities of the Niger Delta can achieve the new dreams of the region and its people. Welcome to the new era.

Tietie, lawyer, Media Personality and Convener of the Energy Security Coalition, writes from Abuja