Akeredolu Faults Award Of Pipeline Surveillance Contracts To Private Individuals

The chairman of Southern Governors’ Forum (SGF) and Ondo State governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has faulted the award of the contract to “protect” the country’s pipelines from vandals to private organisations by
the Federal Government.

Akeredolu also accused the Federal Government of permitting non-state actors to bear heavy assault weapons while denying the same privilege to the States, which are the federating units.

The Federal Government, on Tuesday, justified the decision to hire a private contractor to man its oil pipeline network nationwide.

LEADERSHIP reports that the group chief executive officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Engr. Mele Kyari, had disclosed this to journalists when he appeared at the 49th Session of the State House Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.

Kyari had argued that although the security agencies were doing their part, end-to-end pipeline surveillance would require the involvement of private entities and community stakeholders.

According to him, “We need private contractors to man the right of way to these pipelines. So we put up a framework for contractors to come and bid and they were selected through a tender process. And we believe we made the right decision.”

But, reacting to the development in a statement personally posted on his verified Facebook page on Wednesday, Governor Akeredolu said that the award of contracts to private organisations to protect against vandalisation of pipelines raises “fundamental questions on the sincerity of the advisers of the Government on security issues.”

The governor wrote: “the engagement of private organisations to handle serious security challenges reinforces the belief that the whole defence architecture in the country needs an urgent overhaul.

“It is safe to conclude that the Federal Government has, impliedly, permitted non-state actors to bear heavy assault weapons while denying the same privilege to the States, the federating units.

“The news concerning the purported award of pipeline contracts to some individuals and private organisations by the Federal Government has been unsettling.

“More disquieting is the barely disguised hostility displayed against either the idea or the actual establishment of security outfits by some State Governments to fill the widening gaps in the scope of security coverage noticeable nationally.

“The Federal Government, through the Office of the National Security Adviser, has been consistent in its refusal to accede to the request by some States in the Federation to strengthen the complementary initiatives adopted to protect lives and property.

“This is done despite the knowledge that the very issues which necessitated the creation of these outfits support providing adequate weaponry.

“All attempts to persuade the Federal Government to look, critically, into the current security architecture have been rebuffed despite the manifest fundamental defects engendered by over-centralisation.

“It is, therefore, shocking to read that the Federal Government has maintained the award of the contract to “protect” the country’s pipeline from vandals to private organisations.

“This story, if true, leaves a sour taste in the mouth. The NSA will, obviously, not advise the President to approve the award of a contract of such magnitude if the operators have not displayed sufficient capacity to checkmate the criminal activities of equally powerful groups.

“The open and seeming enthusiastic embrace of this oddity, despite the constant and consistent avowal of the readiness by the Security Agencies in particular the Navy to contain the pervasive and deepening crises of breaches and threats to lives and property, attracts the charge of insincerity bordering, deplorably, on dubiety.

“If the State Governments, which are keenly desirous of protecting their citizens, establish ancillary security outfits and there has been pronounced reluctance, if not outright refusal, to consider permitting them to bear arms for the sole purpose of defence, granting private individuals and or Organisations unfettered access to assault weapons suggests, curiously, deep-seated suspicion and distrust between the Federal Government and the presumed federating units.

“The engagement of private organisations to handle serious security challenges reinforces the belief that the whole defence architecture in the country needs an urgent overhaul.

“The Federal Government cannot be seen to be playing the Ostrich in this regard.”