Group to FG: Decentralise pipeline surveillance in oil communities

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A pan–Niger Delta group has asked the Federal Government to decentralise pipeline surveillance operations across oil-producing communities. The group said the move would ensure fairness and transparency in the management of Nigeria’s oil resources and give host ethnic nationalities a direct role in protecting crude oil infrastructure located on their ancestral lands. It warned that excluding these communities from safeguarding pipelines could threaten long-term stability in the Niger Delta and weaken the protection of Nigeria’s most important revenue source.

The demand was made at a press briefing in Abuja by the United Niger Delta Congress (UNDC). The statement was read by the group’s National President, Julius Mallam-Obi, while the convener of the organisation, Fejiro Oliver, and the National Secretary, Hon. Emaluji Michael Sunday, were also present.

Nigeria depends heavily on crude oil from the Niger Delta, yet many of the ethnic nationalities that produce the resource remain outside the protection, management and economic benefits linked to it, the group said.

“This situation is unjust, dangerous, unacceptable, and unsustainable. Our mission is clear: to protect the collective interests of the Niger Delta ethnic nations, ensure that the benefits derived from our natural resources are shared fairly and transparently, and promote peace through justice and inclusion.

“We firmly believe that justice is the foundation of peace, and exclusion is the seed of instability. For several years, the Federal Government has spent enormous public funds, running into trillions of naira, on pipeline surveillance contracts designed to protect Nigeria’s most critical economic asset: crude oil infrastructure. These contracts were meant to protect pipelines, prevent crude oil theft, and increase national oil production,” they said.

Despite that spending, the organisation said Nigeria’s oil output has remained below its potential.

“Yet despite this massive expenditure, Nigeria’s oil production has remained stagnant at approximately 1.4 to 1.5 million barrels per day, far below the nation’s potential production capacity of over 2 million barrels per day. Vanguard