Niger Delta Group Rejects Pipeline Surveillance Decentralization, Demands Audit of Contractors
PRESS STATEMENT
RE: TOTAL REJECTION OF THE SO-CALLED DECENTRALIZATION OF PIPELINE SURVEILLANCE CONTRACT, A FRAUDULENT AGENDA TO PROTECT FAILED POLITICAL CONTRACTS
Issued by: Niger Delta Emancipation Movement (NDEM)
The Niger Delta Emancipation Movement (NDEM) states without apology, without hesitation and without fear that the recent call by the Itsekiri National Youth Council (INYC) for the “decentralization” of the pipeline surveillance contract is nothing but a desperate, dishonest and dangerously misleading agenda designed to protect non-performing, politically-sponsored contractors who have turned national assets into private feeding troughs.
Let us not pretend, let us not decorate failure with grammar, let us not insult the intelligence of Niger Delta youths with empty slogans about inclusion and stakeholders.
This is not about inclusion, this is about control, this is about money, this is about protecting contracts that have produced little or nothing while billions disappear.
For years, Ocean Marine Solutions (OMS) and Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL) have been positioned within the pipeline surveillance architecture of this country. They have received enormous public funds, funds meant to secure pipelines, protect national revenue and empower Niger Delta youths.
Yet today, when we strip away the noise and propaganda, what do we see?
We see no clear record of operational success.
We see no consistent evidence of dismantled bunkering networks.
We see no transparent employment structure that reflects the diversity of Niger Delta youths.
We see no measurable footprint that justifies the scale of funds collected.
So we ask, not politely but firmly and unapologetically, what exactly have OMS and PINL been doing with Nigeria’s money?
Where are the results?
Where are the reports?
Where are the communities that can testify to their impact?
Where are the youths whose lives have been changed by their operations? Silence. Because the truth is brutal and undeniable, these are political contracts, contracts built not on competence but on connections, not on performance but on privilege, not on results but on access to power.
And now, because a structure has emerged that is actually producing visible results, creating jobs and confronting oil theft with seriousness, suddenly we hear cries of monopoly and decentralization.
What hypocrisy, what insult. You were comfortable when nothing was working. You are uncomfortable now that something is working.
The so-called decentralization they are preaching is not reform, it is an attempt to scatter effectiveness, weaken coordination and return the Niger Delta to the dark days where surveillance contracts existed only on paper while pipelines bled and communities suffered.
Pipeline security is not a political sharing formula.
It is not a tribal settlement.
It is not a platform for elite enrichment. It is a serious national security responsibility and it must be handled by those who have proven capacity, visible structure and undeniable results.
We refuse to accept a system where, money is centralized in a few hands with no accountability, Youth empowerment is replaced with elite accumulation, Oil theft thrives under the watch of those paid to stop it and then the same actors come forward to preach fairness. Fairness begins with performance, accountability begins with results.
To the Federal Government, NNPCL and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, we say this with urgency and authority:
Conduct a full, transparent and uncompromising audit of all surveillance contractors.
Expose the numbers.
Expose the results.
Expose the failures.
And where there is no performance, terminate those contracts immediately.
Nigeria cannot continue to:
Lose billions to oil theft
And at the same time
Pay billions to contractors who cannot account for their impact
That is not governance, that is organized waste.
To the youths of the Niger Delta, Ijaw, Urhobo, Isoko, Anioma and even Itsekiri youths with conscience, we say:
Wake up. Ask questions. Demand answers.
Stop being used as foot soldiers for people who do not employ you, do not empower you and do not represent your future.
Ask them:
Where are the jobs?
Where are the opportunities?
Where is the impact?
Because the future of this region cannot be built on silence, deception and political convenience.
We state it clearly and finally, The Niger Delta Emancipation Movement (NDEM) rejects this call for decentralization in its entirety.
We will not support any agenda that, weakens what is working, protects what is failing or returns this region to a system of contracts without consequences
Signed:
Dr, Emmanuel F. Oghene – President
Comr, Bless Oweipere – Secretary
Niger Delta Emancipation Movement (NDEM)
For Truth. For Accountability. For the Future of the Niger Delta.
Cc:
The President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
The National Security Adviser (NSA)
The Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources
The Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPCL
The Delta State Government