Could this be a volte face or a sequel to an insidious agenda to frustrate Messrs Tantita Security limited almost at the time it is due for a term renewal of its standing contractual obligations with NNPCL?
A group under the aegis of the Northern Peoples Forum (QUNGIYAR MUTANEN AREWA) led by its national chairman Alhaji Saidu Bello and its Secretary Comrade Saad BelI at a press conference held at the Northern star media center kano on the 8th September 2023, has drawn flak against the Nigerian Navy over its recent activities in the oil rivers of the Niger Delta.
According to the group, “we are constrained to broadcast our worries because by implication any circumstance under which the main source of the Nigerian economy is affected upsets not only the Nigerian state but several ancillary units and services in the macro economic environment that are dependent on positive numbers from the nigerian economy
The group while applauding the robust capacity shown by Messrs Tantita security services limited in securing pipeline assets through its comprehensive security, reporting and management platforms administered by a technical team with highly skilled specialists who collaborate with digital technologies to deliver any data of illegal activities in the oil river from their clouds environment, wondered where the Nigerian Navy had been when the Nigerian state was loosing over 700,000 barrels of crude oil every day a situation that ensured that Nigeria could not meet its alloted daily OPEC quota which further triggered volatility in the nation’s fiscal and monetary divisions and caused a precarious foreign reserve base and declining naira, which led the NNPCL GMD, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari to say ” illegal activities around oil assets, including illegal refineries, and insertions on oil pipelines among others have caused a huge shortfall in oil production, with the situation getting worse in 2022″.
The Group further quoted Mallam Mele Kolo kyari to have said ” the scale of oil theft that we have was not anticipated, not expected not thought of, the scale is enormous. We have seen pipelines taken from our main trunk lines into abandoned platforms in which people come to steal crude oil” who hinted that ever since Tantita Security Services Limited came on board, there has been noticeable appreciation in production numbers as the NNPCL had recovered from an all time low production output of less than 1m barrel per day prior to signing a contract with Messrs Tantita to a daily average of 1.47m barrels per day. This the group said was as a result of the opening up of previously abandoned oil wells and surface facilities as well as the stemming down of illegal artesanal activities that have been the mainstay of oil thieves dotting everywhere in the Niger Delta swamps.
QUNGIYAR MUTANEN AREWA further lampooned the Nigeria Navy in a recent arrest it carried out against some Tantita personnel namely Asonja Goddey, Obajimi Oluwaseyifunmi, Awolowo Aribo, and Oluwadaisi Balogun, and wondered what has become of the existing Inter Agency security collaboration and coordination council which ensures that members of the Nigerian military are always with Messrs Tantita any time it is involved in intelligence activities or in the pursuit of oil thieves.
While the group continues to applaud the Nigerian military for its relentless sacrifice to Nigeria, it finds it difficult to believe that the Nigerian Navy that arrested these men are operating in the same trajectory and route with their colleagues in other sectors.
The group called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as commander in chief of the federation of nigeria to immediately call the Nigerian Navy segment that appear to have lost its focus in the oil river to order.
It demanded for a new security template to include but not limited to pushing the Nigerian Navy in the oil rivers back to its primordial role in protecting interference in the nation’s marine blue line and to effect arrest of any illegal activities across the blue line that may emanate from inbound marine activities so as to allow other security agencies assigned to police the Nigerias water ways do their jobs.
Finally, the President and Commander in Chief of the Nigerian armed forces should follow the path of patriotism evinced in a government that rewards diligence and hardwork by directing the extension of the contract term of Messrs Tantita Security services limited which has ostensibly tilted the scale and has worked tirelessly to ensure crude oil production levels are optimised, the group was noted to have said.
Comrade Saidu Bello.
Chairman of the Forum. Comrade Aminu Saad Beli,
National Secretary