When the controversial contract for the policing of Nigeria’s maritime domain was muted a lot of industry stakeholders were pessimistic and also antagonistic.
Their argument was that, not only was the procedure wrong, it also portends great risks for the nations’ economy and security.
But Government was undaunted, and by 2011, a contract for the sum of $103.4m (or about N15 billion) was awarded to Global West Vessel Specialist Limited (GWVSL for pipeline surveillance and security of the nation’s waters.
When the controversial contract for the policing of Nigeria’s maritime domain was muted a lot of industry stakeholders were pessimistic and also antagonistic.
Their argument was that, not only was the procedure wrong, it also portends great risks for the nations’ economy and security.
But Government was undaunted, and by 2011, a contract for the sum of $103.4m (or about N15 billion) was awarded to Global West Vessel Specialist Limited (GWVSL for pipeline surveillance and security of the nation’s waters.
It was the lot of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), to package the contract albeit in what was explained as concessioning the form of Supply, Operate and Transfer (SOT)
Although, the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) after a review of the procurement process, issued a Certificate of No Objection for the provision of platforms for tracking ships and cargoes, stakeholders believe the contract was fraudulently sealed without going through due process as virtually all the processes leading to the award of the contract were shrouded in secrecy.
With an initial investment in the sum of $103,400,000, NIMASA signed a contract for the Strategic Concessioning Partnership between it and Global West to provide platform for tracking ships and cargoes, enforce regulatory compliance and surveillance of the entire Nigerian maritime domain.
The contract was signed based on concession for a period of 10 years, and renewable for further two terms of 5 years and no more each based on performance as recommended by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to avoid undue monopoly of the service by the concessionaire.
Emboldened by its seeming success with the maritime security experiment, the Federal Government took it a step further by awarding similar contract for the policing of the nation’s vast pipelines in the Niger Delta to ex-militants.
Consequently, while Global West ( in which ex-militant; Tompolo allegedly has substantial interests) , other militant leaders, such as: Egberi Papa, Asari Dokubo, Dagogo, also got N2billion contract each to secure the oil pipelines in Bayelsa and Rivers States. Yet another N580million contract was awarded to the company belonging to another militant; Boyloaf.
It is about two years since these obviously selfishly-motivated contracts were awarded to these army of ex-militants, what has been the score card?
The nation has witnessed unbridled increase in piracy, sea robbery, oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
The statistics are indeed very worrisome, while sea piracy has placed Nigeria number one on the International Maritime Bureau scale of piracy-prone waters, oil theft and pipeline vandalism is eroding the nation’s earnings from crude oil.
Virtually all the International Oil Companies (IOCs) have cried out over their dwindling fortunes, while others have even gone ahead to declare Force Majeure.
Specifically, Shell Petroleum Development Company estimated that about N900 billion may be lost this year as a result of unbridled theft of crude oil. On its part, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) submitted that Nigeria is likely to lose a whopping showed that N764 billion, which is about 20 per cent of the 2013 budget, unless something is done about oil theft
The plundering was recently confirmed by the Minister of Finance; Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who said the nation was losing about 300,000 barrels of crude per day which translates to the loss of $1 billion in revenue per month.
Therefore, it is accurate to say that on the average, the nation loses $12 billion per annum to oil thieves, spread across the length and breadth of the Nigeria Delta region.
Ironically, as the nation bleeds on account of the nefarious and unpatriotic activities of pipeline vandals, the number of illegal refineries and privately owned jetties continue to increase
As the mouth-watering contracts given to these ex-militants continue to run, and as the nation’s waters and pipelines continue to be theatre of economic sabotage through unending piracy attacks, sea robbery and vandalism respectively, the most pertinent question to ask is: Are these contracts justified?
Messrs Global West has a running 10-year contract to ensure that the waters are safe from pirates and robbers and also ensure that the nation’s crude and refined petroleum products. The same goes for others.
But clearly, if the rationale for engaging these companies which have ex-militants as directors is to secure the nation’s waters and also ensure that her crude oil and refined products are secure, then the contractors have performed grossly below expectation.
Engaging ‘sons of the soil’ to secure the nation’s wealth amount to cowardice on the part of the government. If it is not cowardice, then it is merely an act of pandering to ethnic sentiments.
From the accounts of multinational oil companies, there are three categories of actors; one is some ex-militants, others are foreign collaborators and notable personalities within the Niger Delta region.
Statutorily, it is the duty of both the Nigerian Navy and NIMASA to ensure safety and security of the nation’s territorial waters. While the Navy handles anything beyond the nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the NIMASA is responsible for safety and security of ships, cargoes and persons within the nation’s EEZ.
It is absurd that these agencies have been denied their statutory duties and handed over to ex-militants, who sadly, can not be said to be immuned from the possibility of taking advantage of these strategic contracts, to do biddings other than those of the Nigerian nation.
If we are sufficiently informed about the terms of the contract, we would have called for immediate revocation; nevertheless, we advocate that both NIMASA and the Navy should be allowed to carry out their statutory duties.
We wonder if the nation will continue to wait, while we count 10 years of Global West Vessel Specialists Limited and between three and five years of the other ex-militants companies.
Discussion about this post