Niger Delta Group Seeks Host Community Role In Pipeline Surveillance

The United Niger Delta Congress (UNDC) has called for priority to be given to host communities in protecting oil and gas infrastructure.

The group, which called for a decentralised approach to pipeline surveillance in the Niger Delta, said the region is too vast for one or two organisations to protect the oil infrastructure.

It warned that failure to adopt a more inclusive approach could heighten tensions, stressing that sustainable peace in the region depends on fairness and active involvement of host communities in safeguarding oil assets.

Addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, the president of the group, Comrade Julius Malam-Obi, said greater inclusion of local stakeholders would enhance accountability, improve intelligence gathering, and promote stability in the region.

According to him, “The solution is clear: oil theft will be more effectively curtailed through the decentralisation of pipeline surveillance contracts. When responsibilities are devolved to host communities and ethnic nationalities, accountability improves.”

The UNDC said that communities have a direct stake in safeguarding oil assets located within their domains and are better positioned to monitor activities and identify threats.

It referenced provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), noting that the law recognises host communities as critical stakeholders in the management and protection of oil and gas infrastructure.

According to the UNDC, a decentralised framework would ensure fairness, encourage broader participation and reduce tensions linked to perceived exclusion in the region.

It said, “Communities will generate intelligence within their domains and peer-review themselves and expose offenders, because they have a direct stake in protecting their resources.

“The PIA explicitly recognises host communities as central stakeholders in the protection and management of oil and gas assets within their domains. You cannot preach peace while practising oppression. You cannot demand stability while engineering inequality,” Malam-Obi said.