NDCV Seeks Decentralisation Of Pipeline Surveillance Contract

The Niger Delta Coastline Vanguard (NDCV) has called on the federal government to decentralise the pipeline surveillance contract for optimal  performance.

The Niger Delta Coastline Vanguard is a group of ex-militants who under the Presidential Amnesty Programme submitted weapons and were granted pardon in 2017 with a promise to be properly integrated into the federal government’s amnesty programme with all accrued benefits.

Speaking at a world press conference in Abuja, the legal adviser and secretary of the group, Joseph Olamide, said the contracts should be based on states so that people from a particular state would secure the pipelines in their state.

The further said they have the capacity, required intelligence and human resource to collaborate with the federal government on surveillance of pipelines and anti-bunkering activities in the area.

Part of the demands of the group include: “Decentralisation of the pipeline surveillance contract to accommodate NDCV to cover Ondo, Ogun and Lagos State littoral corridor.

“That NDCV is familiar with the terrain for effective and efficient output. We shall not allow or accept any deliberate attempt by government or agents of government to impose someone from another region who does not belong to our ethnic nationality on us to sustain the existing peace in the region.

“We thank Mr. President for this novel initiative to decentralise the project and we promise upon our honour to support the federal government in its effort to curb the region from criminal activities that do not give Nigeria any good image internationally.”

Speaking on the activities of the group to secure the region, the president, NDCV, Gen. Job Omotuwa, said: “It is on record that on 14th November, 2021 at Abereke, a riverine community in ilaje local government, about eight persons were arrested in four boats loaded with drums of diesel, this arrest was carried out by our security services. The NDCV patrol team led by me in conjunction with the anti-vandal unit of the Civil Defense Corps in Ondo State Command made the arrest.

“In an earlier effort, on 28th October, the same year, a vessel was equally arrested by our team when the suspects engaged in illegal dealings in petroleum products business on the high sea. This is a feat many ex-militant leaders from Ondo State who have benefitted immensely from the federal government amnesty programme have never recorded or achieved.”