By Wilson Macaulay
Warri.
Prince Dr Mike Emuh the National Chairman of Host Communities of Nigeria, Producing Oil & Gas ( HOSCON) has hailed and commended the huge success recorded by the High Chief Tompolo owned Tantita Surveillance Company for it's brilliant performance in exposing and checkmating crude oil theft in the Niger Delta region.
Prince Dr Mike Emuh who spoke in Effurun, headquarters of Uvwie Local Government Area in Delta State, Posited that the President Muhammadu Buhari led APC Federal Government did the right thing by taking the bull by the horn for giving the surveillance contract to High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpomupolo aka Tompolo.
The HOSCON National Chairman explained that he is appreciating the PMB administration because what Mr President did by giving the Pipeline Surveillance contract to Tompolo is in line with the European Union recommendation to the Nigeria Government which asserts that Pipeline Surveillance Job should be given to the Host Communities who are the Indigenes of the operational vicinity of the international Oil Companies, mostly domiciled in the Niger Delta.
Prince Emuh the Niger Delta Mouth Piece added when you have a goat in your compound where there is a thief and you are about to travel, the ideal thing to do is to leave the goat with the thief so that he can keep the animal safe until the arrival of the owner.
The HOSCON Boss noted that those who are mostly involved in pipeline vandalism are not the Fulani’s, not the Hausas, the Igbos not foreigners, nor Strangers from far away but our own boys within the Oil Producing Communities.
According to Prince Dr Mike Emuh , it is our children from the Host Communities who are involved in this nefarious activities as they connive or collaborate with the international thieves, the vessels owners who aid and abet them to convey our stolen crude oil in shutting vessels into their bigger vessels in high or deep sea .
Speaking further ,he said:
”In all of these atrocities ,the J.T.F is aware, the Naval Authority are aware, but unfortunately they have formed a cartel to siphon our crude oil that was why a bigger vessel was arrested in Guinea Impregnated with Nigeria Crude Oil worth about ₦2.7 Million Barrel.
Meanwhile, there is no way the vessel can sail in and out of Nigeria Water without the knowledge of the Navy and other authorized authorities.
He stressed: “These Cartel, Cabal and Syndicate are the enemies of our National economy that is why we are thanking PMB for bringing Tantita on board to effectively handle the pipeline surveillance job which the Army and Navy failed to protect.
He observed: “Today through the effort of Tompolo’s Tantita, we have discovered that for nine whole years
Pipelines where being used to Siphon Crude oil in the creeks and the eco system has been destroyed."
Continuing, he added, “We have burn fire, popularly known as Kpofire from the activities of the illegal Refineries , in all of these activities the Nigerian Navy is aware, the J.T.F. is aware, there is no way the boys in the creeks can burn those thick smokes without the knowledge of the Navy but it seems to be there are some sacred cows , l mean people that cannot be touched and so they can go unpunished.
He Remarked: “I want to say once again that the Federal Government has taken a good bold step, the Ministry of Petroleum has done what is expected of them by awarding Pipeline Surveillance, Oil & Gas Security Contract to indigenous Companies, not only to Tompolo but also to Ocean Marine Solution (OMS), Pipeline Infrastructure Limited (PIL) etc which carries along notable Niger Delta Traditional Rulers, Opinion Leaders from the Niger Delta and even HOSCON where l am the Chairman are all involved in this laudable process."
Emuh the Niger Delta Ambassador pointed out that this new approach of Pipeline Surveillance is result oriented because everything is going back to the Host Communities, noting that the Cadets trained by Host Communities for pipeline security and intelligence gathering would soon be engaged
under the new dispensation.
He opined that the Federal Government should fastrack the process of awarding all Pipeline Surveillance Contracts because what is on ground is a complete deviation from the old practice which allowed the stealing of over 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day and that runs into Trillions in a year when it will cost less them 100 Billion to award the contract to the indigenes which is the Host Communities.
Prince Dr Mike Emuh emphasized that
all Pipeline Surveillance contract should be given to the host communities without playing politics with it.
He Said: “I am Happy that the Federal Government is thinking in the right direction. There are pipelines from Warri to Kaduna to Mauiduguri. The surveillance contract should be awarded to the concerned communities that is the only way we can guarantee a hitch free surveillance Nation wide.
He insisted that the colossal loss recorded to pipeline vandalism is enough, let all hands be on deck to ensure that the Host Communities man and run our entire Pipelines Nationwide.
While speaking on the 3 percent PIA, he said: “It took Nigeria 13 Years after late Musa Yar’ Adua for the PMB administration through the support of the 9th National Assembly to actualize the Petroleum Industry Acts (PIA).
He said categorically that PIA is for the Host Communities , the places where we have flow station, marginal fields pipelines, etc.
Prince Emuh maintained that, he as the National Chairman of HOSCON fought for the PIA which many stakeholders
are laying claim to at the moment.
Even though we are happy that PIA is finally here, there are some gray areas that we need to amend or fine-tuned.
The HOSCON boss reaffirmed that Host Communities should be the driver of the PIA and not the Oil Companies driving the process because according to the PIA they are only permitted to nominate the secretary of the Committee .
He observed that everybody in Nigeria
is enjoying the Oil one way or the other. Today we have oil Producing States from the North, Oil Producing States from the West and oil Producing States from the East.
Giving a very vivid example he said: "Dr. Lukeman Rilwanu became OPEC President General, representing Nigeria. Whether his community was Producing oil or not did not matter. Here in HOSCON we are making sure that we carry everyone along. Oil companies should not send PIA list to Government without consulting HOSCON. Both HOSCON the Oil Companies and Government must walk as one for the overall interest of all relevant stakeholders.
While Speaking on his reaction to the proposed subsidy removal he said: ";I am using this medium to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to allow subsidy to remain because removing subsidy now as proposed will create more problems.
According to Dr b Emuh already we have enough problems to handle,to remove subsidy now is not a wise decision, hence l want PMB for now to concentrate on how our Refineries can refine locally to meet our domestic consumption requirements.
He noted; " Thank God, the Federal Government has awarded the Warri Refinery turn around maintenance Contract to Daewoo, let Dangote Refinery come on board, let modular Refineries come up ,once we are meeting our petroleum products demand locally then we can think of subsidy removal.
He warned: " Removing subsidy now under this harsh economic realities will be suicidal so it is not a good path to thread right now by Nigeria."
While answering a question if the Nigerian Government has cooperated enough in encouraging the citizens to establish modular refineries, he said:"
Alot of people got licenses but could not successfully commence operations because an average modular refinery cost a minimum of 10 billion naira, which is indeed capital intensive, he concluded.
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