…Illegal bunkering would soon become a thing of the past — Tompolo
Our correspondent
No less than additional 42 tapping points by crude oil bunkers on Nigeria’s oil pipelines in two states – Delta and Bayelsa, have been further uncovered by Ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, and security officials bringing the total to 58, on Sunday.
This is just as more discoveries are expected as the quest would continue this week.
However, amidst the discovery operations, bunkers angry with the leader of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) for exposing their unlawful ventures, in the past few weeks, have allegedly flooded Tompolo and operatives of his Tantita Security Services Limited (TSSL) threat messages, a development he (Tompolo) stated was within control.
Tantita had, last Thursday, seized a vessel suspected to belong to an oil syndicate, which came to load crude oil from an undisclosed location in Delta state.
At the time the Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, (NNPCL) Engr. Mele Kyari, visited Delta state, last Friday, Tantita reported the discovery of 16 tapping points on the trans-Forcados pipeline, which NNPCL had clamped.
Speaking to journalists on Sunday, at Oporoza, the traditional headquarters of Gbaramatu kingdom, Warri South-West local government area, Delta state, dismissed being deterred by threats from oil bunkers.
Tompolo said, “As of today (Sunday), we have discovered over 58 tapping points that oil bunkers have used in stealing crude oil from the nation’s pipelines in Delta and Bayelsa states.
“In Delta, three major crude pipelines, including the Trans-Escravos and Trans- Ramos lines have been tapped by oil bunkers.
“The tapping points that were traced on Friday were with the help of the Nigerian security, which was why inside the rain and everything, we could trace the lines.
“We are doing the work together with the security agents; we are only providing intelligence for the security to assist to do the work.
“Therefore, everybody, NNPCL, and security agencies are working together in a very good spirit now.
“Now, the military has helped us to discover and stop the people from doing illegal activities, so we are going to work together and we do not want to go into details. The stealing had been going on for over eight to nine years,” he said.
On threat messages, he stated that, “As for threat messages, that is normal, even this morning, they sent messages to me, but I think it is something we can handle.”
Affirming that illegal oil bunkering would soon become a thing of the past with the cooperation of all stakeholders, he said, “With the way we are going now, we are getting cooperation from all the security agencies, both the ones in the state here and at the top. Therefore, by the grace of God, in no distant time, we will stop this largely.”
He stated the company was not facing any major challenge, adding, “At a point in time, we will always provide the intelligence and security people will come and do the work.”
Speaking on barricading of creeks by oil bunkers with trees, he said, “That is the more reason we are involved, if we see any creek that is blocked with trees, we will bring in motor-saw people to cut it and we go inside.
“Where the security people cannot even go, we will first go there and ask them to follow because we cannot do anything with the security people. In addition, with the way all of them are actually cooperating, we will achieve the desired result.
“The communities are not posing a problem, it is the bunkers that offer resistance but even at that, like what I said before, this is our area, we are doing everything to ensure that we reduce oil bunkering to the barest minimum because the aquatic life in our area is almost gone.
“The crude oil that we recover from the creek, we are trying to get a barge where we will pump in the product, along the line, if any sink, we will not follow that because the terrain is bad. However, we will do everything within our power to stop further destruction and pollution.
“There is no creek that anybody will pass in the region that I will not understand or the people working with me will not know. For now, we do not have any problem,” he added.
“Our major problem is the aquatic life of the people is gone and we are doing everything together with traditional rulers, security agencies, Department of State Services (DSS) and all that to ensure that we reduce it to the barest minimum so that our people can survive,” he said further.
While admitting that pipeline surveillance “is stressful,” he said there was no problem with the communities and he did not envisage that oil bunkers would not yield to his appeal to stop oil bunkering.
“Before this time, I have been discussing with oil bunkers, whether from Rivers or Bayelsa, all over the place. Even many of them. actually understand that oil bunkering is not a good thing for our environment.
“And that this is the more reason we think there will not be much problem for us to stop it, but their complaint is that there are no other means of survival,” he said.
On the scarcity of kerosene, he said, appeal would be made to the Federal Government and NNPCL to see what they can do about the local refinery, stating that “you cannot fight illegality with illegality.”
Recall that the Federal Government has said hiring private contractors to man its oil pipeline network nationwide was a decisions it took for effective surveillance of the facilities.
One of those selected was Tompolo, a former Nigerian militant commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), with a multi-billion naira contract, a development that has since attracted mixed reactions.
The pipeline surveillance contract handed to Tompolo was backed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited to end illegal bunkering, illegal refining and oil theft in Niger-Delta communities.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company, Mr Mele Kyari, while to questions against the rationale of the contract, argued that although the FG is not dealing directly with the former warlord, it signed a contract with a company in which Tompolo has interest.
The deal is described as a renewal, as Tompolo got a similar deal during the Goodluck Jonathan administration. The development in August was described as a reversal of the initial stance which saw the cancellation of the contract months after President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office.
It was reported that prior to the earlier cancellation of his contract, the arrangements he had in place tackled illegal bunkering and increased production quota to over two million barrels per day.
The new deal was brokered by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva and top NNPC officials, including the Group Executive Director, Upstream, Adokiye Tombomelye.
It is reported the country loses over 500,000 barrels per day to illegal bunkering.
In August, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Timipre Sylva, had said that the country loses 400,000 barrels of crude daily to oil theft.
This is just as the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari had valued Nigeria’s losses to the activities of oil vandals to about $1.9 billion monthly, with its attendant effect on environmental degradation.
Sylva in August alongside Kyari, when he paid a courtesy visit to Gov. Hope Uzodimma of Imo at the Government House, Owerri, described the situation as a “national emergency,” lamenting that the nation had fallen short of OPEC daily quota, from 1.8 million barrels to 1.4 million barrels, due to crude theft.
He had warned that such huge economic loss was capable of crippling the nation’s economy, if not given the seriousness it deserved.
Sylva who had stated the problem of crude theft could not be handled in Abuja alone, said, “It is a national emergency because the theft has grown wings and reached a very bad crescendo.
“This is because the thefts are taking place in the communities that host the oil pipelines.
“As a result, it has become necessary to involve the stakeholders, especially the host communities.
“And because of the height and orchestrated nature of the menace, Nigeria could not take the advantage and opportunities that abound in the gas production.
“This is because no investor would want to invest where there is incessant insecurity and vandalism of the infrastructure.”