A Warri, Delta State based activist, Mr. Clement Tonfawei, has warned the Federal Government not to re-award pipeline surveillance contracts to ex-militants, saying it will create more problems between the government and host communities.
Tonfawei, who spoke with our correspondent in his office in Warri, advised the Federal Government to rather parley with oil-producing communities and award the surveillance contracts to the host communities in the Niger Delta region.
He stressed that only the host communities could effectively protect the oil facilities.
Tonfawei, who has been in the forefront of the Niger Delta agitation, said that if government re-awarded the pipeline surveillance contract to the ex-militants, there would be hostilities between them and the people of the host communities, who are more familiar with the terrain.
He said, “I have read in the papers that Osinbajo has said that he is going to re-award the surveillance contract to militants. That is a slap on the face of the oil producing communities. The ex-militants are subjects of the community; so, if such projects come, they should come to the community.
“If you have an understanding with a community, there is no militant that can come and blow up pipes in that community. We know ourselves very well and anybody that does that secretly, the community will fish them out.
So, I would encourage the Federal Government to parley with communities and exmilitants when they want to re-award this pipeline surveillance contract.”
On the proposed Maritime University, Okerenkoko, the activist also appealed to the Federal Government not to toy with the issue, saying that if the matter was not properly handled, things could go from bad to worse in the region.
He added that more deadly militants could also surface if the controversial matter was not properly thrashed out. “The Maritime University is something that Nigerians should not be toying with because if you are toying with it, you’re toying with the economy of Nigeria. So, they should fasttrack the academic session of the university,” Tonfawei said.
He advised the Federal Government to set up modular refineries that would phase out the illegal ones being operated by some powerful individuals in the region, adding that to achieve this, government must also involve the communities.
Tonfawei also called on the Federal government to insist on the implementation of its directive to all oil companies to relocate their headquarters to the Niger Delta region.
“This has always been my position, right from time, because the people who benefit more from oil exploration in the Niger Delta region are the people from the north, east and western parts of the country. This is the kind of politics that will never benefit our people. But if their headquarters are here, the people in the region will be gainfully employed. It is not by saying the oil companies should relocate to the region alone, they should implement it,” he said.
