Tompolo, Ateke Tom’s Pipeline Contracts Against Global Practice - Experts The process followed by the federal government in the award of contracts for the protection of the country’s oil pipelines to ex-militants in the Niger Delta region, including Tompolo, Ateke Tom and others, has been faulted by experts who insist that the action contravenes global practice. The experts argued that the process is questionable, just as the contract has failed to deliver the desired result. Crude and product theft remains on the rise with an estimated 6 million barrels stolen monthly. Speaking exclusively to LEADERSHIP yesterday, an industry expert who is very familiar with the issues but sought anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter explained that the pipelines, being strategic assets, ought to be conventionally outsourced by government to competent companies for protection, where it feels it is not capable of protecting them. According to him, the global practice is that the owner of the assets works out the safety and security needs assessment of the infrastructure using a consultant, and, where need be, contract a third party to protect the assets if it becomes obvious that it cannot protect it. He, however, stressed that such services are usually contracted to the best companies after advertisements specifying which artery of the network is prone to vandals that needs protection. “The advantage of the advertisement is that you will get the best company to do the protection where you know you don’t have the capacity to do it,” the expert explained. He added that the manner in which the contract is being handed over to the ex-militants under the table, rather than over the table, sends the wrong signals to the international community about Nigeria’s commitment to the principles of extractive industry transparency, which the country is a signatory to. “Whatever we are doing in the extractive industry, we should outsource it so that the international community can see us to be transparent and committed to the principles of extractive industry transparency which we have signed up to. These are public assets, we can’t just contract them out to individuals under the table,” he said. For her part, Nigeria’s representative on the board of the global Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), Faith Nwadishi, expressed the worry that despite the contract awarded to the ex-militants and money paid to the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) for the protection of the assets, no visible result could be seen. Nwadishi, who explained that the decision to award the contract to the ex-militants was borne out of the need to involve host communities in the protection of the assets, however, wondered whether there will be any guarantee of a tangible result, if the contract was to be awarded through a transparent bidding process. “The question to be asked is: what has changed since ex-militants were paid this money? Why are we not getting results? Is the money meant for jamboree,” Nwadishi, who is also the country director of Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Nigeria, queried. She regretted that about 6 million barrels of crude oil are lost monthly, stressing that if the country is spending this kind of money, it should get results; otherwise, it’s a wasted effort. The cost of the expired pipeline protection contract awarded to the ex-militants is put at N5.6 billion. A breakdown shows that Mujaheed Dokubo-Asari got $9 million, Ebikabowei “Boyloaf” Victor Ben and Ateke Tom, each got $3.8 million, while Government “Tompolo” Ekpumopolo got the largest share of $22.9 million. Nwadishi, who called for a reassessment of the role of communities in the process, added: “So the money we are paying to the ex-militants… are they paying it to them to acquire their ships and enlarge their cabal?” She pointed out that the local content law in the oil and gas industry is not being strictly enforced, explaining that there are provisions in the law which require companies to have liaison officers in every host community. “But the oil companies are not abiding by it; the liaison officers are supposed to constantly be enlightening the communities, because there are some of them who ignorantly indulge in pipeline vandalism only because they feel it is their property as it is in their backyards,” Nwadishi explained. She also fingered the JTF, noting that there are allegations that some members of the JTF escort people to steal oil and vandalise the pipelines, adding “we need a massive reassessment and re-orientation”. LEADERSHIP gathered that the expired contract was for the protection of the Warri-Oben-Suleja-Kaduna pipeline artery which conveys kerosene, petrol and diesel as well as the Excravos-Warri-Kaduna pipeline artery which is a multipurpose pipeline that conveys both crude and products
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 15:34:50 +0000
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