Surveillance Contract: Niger Delta Group Faults Calls For Decentralization

• Demands For Community Participation For Monitoring, Intelligent Gathering

By Monday Peters, Abuja

Niger Delta group under the auspices of the 21st Century Youths of Niger Delta and Agitators with Conscience (21st CYNDAC) has condemned recent calls for the decentralisation of the pipeline surveillance contract awarded to Tantita Security Services.

According to the group’s statement signed by its leader, Mr Izon Ebi, and made available to newsmen on Monday described the persons behind the call as “bunkering syndicates.”

They emphasised that the quest to decentralize the surveillance contract is not in the interest of the Niger Delta region.

“It’s about protecting the interests of oil bunkering syndicates who lost their grip when accountability returned,” the group said in the statement.

While rejecting the call, the group maintained that the calls to alter the current system are driven by “jealousy, hatred, and the old bring him down syndrome.”

The youth group stressed that distorting the present arrangement of the surveillance contract is to push the region back to a system that enriched criminals, destroyed our environment, and destabilized the economy.

21st CYNDAC stressed that the decentralization model failed the Niger Delta which, according to them, saw the reign of unmitigated oil theft in the region.

“The 2011-2015 surveillance model being pushed today is the same system that allowed oil theft to reach industrial scale, with Nigeria losing hundreds of thousands of barrels daily.

“Turned rivers in Delta, Bayelsa, and Rivers into ecological disaster zones.

“Saw production collapse to 900,000 bpd in 2016 when beneficiaries of the system turned against the state.

“Production briefly hit 2.4-2.5 mbpd, but that was driven by a mix of global oil prices, short-term truces, and PANDEF-led dialogue. When the oversight was weak, the structure collapsed.”

The youths maintained that the current system which they described as the coordinated model is delivering results.

“Since 2022, pipeline protection has been run under central coordination by NNPCL and the Office of the National Security Adviser, with Tantita Security Services operating under direct oversight of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

According to them, “Over 2,000 illegal refineries dismantled across Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, and Ondo. Crude production rose from 1.1 mbpd in mid-2022 to 1.5-1.7 mbpd in 2025/2026.

“Waterways are clearing, with communities reporting the return of fishing and reduced surface oil sheen.

“Contracts are auditable, with KPIs, NSA oversight, and military command. Failure has consequences.”

The group expressed disbelief as to why people are calling and pushing for a decentralized surveillance contract now that the current system is working.

The youths alleged that the loudest voices demanding a return to the old system are linked to networks that lost access when coordination improved.

“Framing this as ‘community ownership’ is misleading. Real community ownership means clean rivers, jobs, and security.

“It does not mean returning billions to unaccountable actors with no legal liability,” they said.

The group however demanded a central coordination by keeping pipeline surveillance under NSA/NNPCL command with the Armed Forces in lead.

21st CYNDAC also called for the urgent release of a full audit of pipeline surveillance contracts from 2011-2015 for Nigerians to see what was spent and what was delivered.

The Niger Delta youths also want the creation of a legal framework for host communities to provide intelligence and monitoring under military and civil authority as well as to separately address issues pertaining to the Presidential Amnesty Programme on its own merit.

They further pledged support to President Bola Tinubu, the Tantita Security Services, the Nigerian Armed Forces, the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), and the Pan Niger Delta Forum’s (PANDEF) peace efforts.

“The Niger Delta does not need another decade of looting disguised as policy. We need clean rivers, secure pipelines, and economic opportunity for our youth. That is what the current model is delivering,” the group added.