A group, Niger Delta Peace Front has appealed to youths in the oil-rich but impoverished and environmentally devastated region, especially ex-militants, to refrain from being used by selfish persons to sabotage Nigeria’s economy.
The group cautioned the ex-militants who have besieged the media space to criticise the renewal of the pipeline protection contract to be wary of unscrupulous persons who do not mean well for the nation.
The chairman of NPDF and secretary, Patterson Efemena and Onyem Philip respectively, made the appeal in a statement they issued yesterday.
Efemena wondered how those who benefitted immensely from Tantita in the first phase of the contract would be the ones championing subversiveness against the firm.
The group advised the ex-militants who have committed huge amounts of money to discredit Tantita and the NNPC in the media to stop dissipating energy on an issue rightly decided by the President.
They insisted that such efforts could be deployed to ventures that would be beneficial to society.
The NDPF stressed that contracts are not won through threats but by demonstrable capacity and track record to follow through the procedure spelt out in the contract terms.
It urged those aggrieved by the decision to renew the contract to show patriotism by giving support to TSL which engaged almost 18,000 youths of the region to successfully prosecute the first phase of the oil pipeline contract.
The group recalled that the contract which has become subject of needless controversy was executed by people in the same region for over 12 years with no protest whatsoever from anywhere.
The NPDF noted that the orchestrated media campaign is targeted at the soul of the Nigerian economy by a hard fighting clique of silent billionaires who see Tantita and the NNPCL as enemies because of the recorded successes against oil theft.
The statement urged those behind the attacks to stop the blackmail “and embrace the prevailing mood of thenation that clearly says enough to oil theft.”
Efemena and Onyem commended President Bola Tinubu and the NNPCL under Mr Mele Kyari for the deliberate decision to build on the gains of the campaign against oil theft spearheaded by Tantita.
The statement reads. “We have observed the sponsored mudslinging and other veiled threats to the Federal Government and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited over the renewal of the oil pipeline contract awarded to Tantita Security Services Limited.
“As stakeholders in the Niger Delta, we have resisted the urge to join the fray in the days leading to the renewal of the critical contract to Tantita Security Limited.
“This we did because we hold it dearly to our hearts that subversive activities sponsored by those who benefited monthly from Tantita will not further the interest of Nigeria.
“We have tried discreetly to prevail on those who have committed huge amounts of funds to sponsor the most invidious publications not just against Tantita but also the NNPCL and top government functionaries to stop and embrace the prevailing mood of the nation that says enough to oil theft.
“We are of the view that it is about time we stopped these threats and name calling to pursue things that are beneficial to our dear country’s finances and the poorly managed ecology of our homeland.
“Oil theft has to be called its right name – a plague on the financial wellbeing of our country. We will surely do better if we commit half of the energy, we have dissipated on this issue to the product end of putting up a concerted front under Tantita to fight oil theft,
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