Group ‎asks Buhari to revoke Tompolo’s pipeline contract

An anti-corruption group, Civil Society Network Against Corruption, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to revoke the oil pipeline protection contract awarded to a company linked to a former Niger Delta militant, Mr. Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo.

In a June 4, 2015 letter by its Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, and addressed to President Buhari, the group said despite the whooping sum of $103m paid to Tompolo‎ by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, the nation’s pipelines remained insecure.


CSNAC, which made a copy of the letter available to journalists on Sunday, said since Tompolo took over the security of the pipelines, crude oil theft had increased from 250,000 barrels per day, before the contract, to 400,000 barrels per day.

The statement read in part, “Sometime in 2012, the President Goodluck Jonathan administration signed a $103m contract with Global West Vessel Specialist Agency Ltd, a company linked to the ex-militant leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, Mr. Government Ekpemupolo alias Tompolo, to protect the nation’s maritime areas and stop piracy and oil theft.

“However, constitutionally, the Nigerian Navy is the primary government agency saddled with the responsibility of safeguarding the territorial integrity and securing the borders of the Federation on the sea.

“It is rather unfortunate that despite the huge amount of money wrongly expended on the said contract yearly, the water ways are still largely insecure and thousands of barrels of crude oil are still lost daily in oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

“As a matter of fact, crude oil theft increased from 250,000 barrels/day before the contract to 400,000 barrels/day since the ceding of Nigeria’s territorial water to a private company without any record of experience in similar service.”

CSNAC, described as a coalition of over 150 anti-corruption organisations, also referred to a newspaper report quoting the pioneer chairman of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr. Ahmed Tijani Ramalan, as saying that the agency pays N1.5bn monthly to Tompolo for the said contract.

Suraju stated in its letter to the President, “In the aforementioned publication, it was reported that some ex Niger-Delta militants have also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to review the multi-million dollar oil pipeline security contract awarded to ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemukpolo, alias Tompolo, and other ex-militants by the past administration. Coming under the aegis of The National Coalition of Niger-Delta Ex-agitators, led by its National President, Israel Akpodoro.‎”

The group therefore called on President Buhari to revoke the contract and make the Nigerian Navy and other related government agency to henceforth undertake the task.
The letter also read, “From the foregoing, it is settled that the Nigerian Navy, in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies, was established to maintain security of the Federation and her waters.

“It is however improper delegation of duty to assign such an enormous task to a private company instead of equipping the relevant agencies to enable them carry out their constitutional role effectively.”