By Luminous Jannamike
ABUJA — A coalition of Niger Delta stakeholders has rejected the National Assembly’s vote of confidence on a multi-trillion-naira pipeline surveillance arrangement, calling it an ‘overreach’ and warning it risks unrest in the oil-producing region.
The group says the National Assembly has stepped outside its constitutional role, ignored existing law, and backed an arrangement that sidelines host communities, a move they warn could deepen tensions in the Niger Delta.
The position was outlined in a statement signed by Comrade Julius Malam-Obi, President of the United Niger Delta Congress, and Honourable Emaluji, Secretary-General of the group.
“This action is not only misguided, it is a grave overreach of legislative authority. The National Assembly does not possess the constitutional or statutory mandate to award, renew, or endorse such contracts,” the group said.
It maintained that the legislature’s role stops at making laws and carrying out oversight, not executing or validating commercial contracts.
“Whoever has paid them to do such should go back for a refund,” the statement added.
The group also pointed to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), saying the law clearly places host communities at the centre of protecting oil and gas assets within their territories.
“Any attempt to concentrate pipeline surveillance responsibilities in a monopolistic structure directly violates both the letter and spirit of this law,” it said.
Beyond legality, the stakeholders framed the issue as one of fairness and inclusion, warning that the current structure shuts out the very communities whose land produces the nation’s wealth.
“What is unfolding is not governance, it is economic capture. It is domination. It is the systematic exclusion of the very ethnic nations whose land sustains the nation’s wealth,” the statement said.
They warned that handing pipeline protection in one area to outsiders, while locals are sidelined, could inflame tensions.
“This is a recipe for crisis of monumental proportions and a direct violation of the provisions of the PIA,” the group stated.
The group also questioned the effectiveness of the current arrangement.
They pointed to a recent operation where a vessel carrying crude oil worth over $300 million was intercepted by the Joint Task Force, not those responsible for surveillance.
“This raises a fundamental question: what is the essence of retaining [the current arrangement] if it cannot prevent oil theft at such a massive scale?” the group asked.
They added that Nigeria’s oil production has risen in recent weeks, around the same time calls for decentralising surveillance gained momentum, raising deeper concerns about performance and accountability.
“This development suggests one of two troubling possibilities: either there has been gross ineffectiveness in the discharge of duties, or, at best, negligence, and at worst, alleged complicity in the persistence of oil theft,” the statement said.
As a way forward, the group pushed for decentralising pipeline surveillance, arguing that communities are better placed to protect assets within their own areas.
“When responsibilities are devolved to host communities and ethnic nationalities, accountability improves. Communities will generate intelligence within their own domains and expose offenders because they have a direct stake in protecting their resources,” it said.
They warned that peace cannot be sustained where there is exclusion.
“You cannot preach peace while practicing oppression. You cannot demand stability while engineering inequality,” the statement said.
Reaffirming the roots of agitation in the region, the group stressed that the struggle has always been about fairness and participation.
“The Niger Delta struggle was never fought to replace external marginalisation with internal domination,” the statement said.
The stakeholders went on to declare a vote of no confidence in the current arrangement and called for strict compliance with the Petroleum Industry Act.
“A total vote of no confidence… Strict compliance with the Petroleum Industry Act. Immediate dismantling of monopolistic pipeline surveillance arrangements,” the group listed among its demands.
They also insisted that every ethnic group in the Niger Delta has the capacity to take part in surveillance activities within its territory.
“Every ethnic nation in the Niger Delta has competent and capable sons and daughters. Denying them this right is not only unjust, it is deeply provocative,” the group said.
The group also warned that ignoring calls for fairness and inclusion could come at a cost.
“The path to peace in the Niger Delta is justice. The foundation of stability is inclusion,” the statement said.
Article N-Delta group rejects N2.1trn pipeline deal, accuses NASS of ‘overreach’ Live On NgGossips.
