Pipeline Surveillance: Group faults call for decentralization of contracts

2026-02-07 - 14:29

By Egufe Yafugborhi THE Concerned Nigerians for Good Governance (CNGG) have faulted call by social justice activist, Fejire Oliver, for decentralisation of oil and gas assets security contracts, better known as pipeline surveillance contract. Fejire is his advocacy for perceived fairness and adherence to the Nigerian Local Content Act has said federal governance preference to hand oil assets security contracts to private hands should be spread across host communities and not ceded to few individuals as currently obtains. Awipi Lawson, President CNGG in the group’s response to the agitation noted that Fejiro’s viewpoint is misguided as oil assets protection has become too sensitive and dangerous to be disposed to sentiments and emotions. According to Lawson, Fejiro’s viewpoint is not only, “Conceptually flawed, it is dangerous to national security, economically reckless and legally misapplied. The argument collapses under scrutiny. “First, the Nigerian Local Content Act does not prescribe balkanisation of security architecture. The Act promotes Nigerian participation in commercial oil and gas activities, procurement, services, fabrication, manpower development. “It does not promote ethnic carving of critical national security functions. Pipeline surveillance is a security operation tied to intelligence, response time, coordination and deterrence. To weaponise the Local Content Act to demand ethnic control of security corridors is gross misreading of the law. “Second, the suggestion that every tribe should manage pipelines in their localities is operationally unreasonable. They (oil assets) don’t respect ethnic boundaries. They traverse rivers, creeks, forests and inter-community corridors. “Effective protection requires unity of command, shared intelligence, logistics and rapid response, not a patchwork of competing local fiefdoms. Fragmentation would reopen the very gaps criminals exploit. “Third, Fejiro ignores verifiable outcomes. Since the current surveillance framework was strengthened, crude oil output has rebounded, vandalism dropped and waterways once notorious for crimes have become safer for residents and commerce. “These are not opinions, they are reflected in production data, security reports and lived community experience. Reform should build on results, not tear them down with rhetoric.” Lawson said Fejiro reliance on emotion over evidence also exposes either bias or ignorance in his argument, adding, “There is no audit trail, no operational analysis, no security assessment, only slogans. “Serious policy debate demands facts, performance benchmarks, response metrics, community employment figures and oversight mechanisms. Anything less is noise masquerading as advocacy.” The CNGG boss emphasised that, “Inclusion is not achieved by destruction. If the concern is community participation, the solution is enforceable local hiring quotas, transparent procurement, skills training, periodic audits and sanctions for non-compliance, all within a coordinated security framework. That is reform. What is being proposed instead is chaos. “To state it plainly, Nigeria’s energy security is not a playground for personal crusades. The Niger Delta has paid too high a price in blood, lost revenue and environmental damage to return to an era of disjointed control and opportunistic agitation. “We commend the men and women currently engaged in pipeline surveillance for the measurable improvements recorded. Where there are gaps, fix them with data backed reforms. Where there is abuse, punish it through the law. “You mustn’t sell the public a false cure that would worsen the disease. Niger Delta needs accountable systems, not incendiary proposals. Nigeria needs security that works, not experiments dressed as activism.”