A northern group in Nigeria, the Northern People’s Forum, also known as Qungiyar Mutanen Arewa, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to "follow the path of patriotism evinced in a government that rewards diligence and hardwork by directing the extension" of the pipeline surveillance contract to Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited for the security firm's role in tilting the scale and working tirelessly to curb oil theft in the country and "to ensure crude oil production levels are optimised".

The Forum, which also came down hard on the Nigerian Navy, which it accused of losing focus, made its position known in a press statement that was signed by its Chairman, Comr. Saidu Bello, and its Secretary, Comr. Aminu Beli, and released at a press conference held at the Northern Star Media Center in Kano on Friday, September 8, 2023.

"Could this be a volte face or a sequel to an insidious agenda to frustrate Messrs Tantita Security Limited almost at the time it is due for a term renewal of its standing contractual obligations with NNPCL?" the Forum asked rhetorically in the released statement in reference to the recent action by the Navy on the arrest of Tantita's personnel during their course of duty.

Continuing, the Forum stated that, “We are constrained to broadcast our worries, because by implication, any circumstance under which the main source of the Nigerian economy is affected upsets not only the Nigerian state but several ancillary units and services in the macro economic environment that are dependent on positive numbers from the nigerian economy."

While applauding the robust capacity shown by "Tantita Security Services Limited in securing pipeline assets through its comprehensive security, reporting and management platforms administered by a technical team with highly skilled specialists, who collaborate with digital technologies to deliver any data of illegal activities in the oil river from their clouds environment,"  the Forum wondered where the Nigerian Navy had been “when the country was loosing over 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day.”

It further said the situation "ensured that Nigeria could not meet its alloted daily OPEC quota which further triggered volatility in the nation’s fiscal and monetary divisions and caused a precarious foreign reserve base and declining naira, which led the NNPCL GMD, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari to say that illegal activities around oil assets, including illegal refineries, and insertions on oil pipelines among others have caused a huge shortfall in oil production, with the situation getting worse in 2022."

The Forum, in quoting the NNPCL GMD said ”the scale of oil theft that we have was not anticipated, not expected, not thought of; the scale is enormous. We have seen pipelines taken from our main trunk lines into abandoned platforms in which people come to steal crude oil,” and who hinted further that "ever since Tantita Security Services Limited came on board, there has been noticeable appreciation in production numbers as the NNPCL had recovered from an all-time low production output of less than 1m barrel per day prior to signing a contract with Messrs Tantita to a daily average of 1.47m barrels per day. This the group said was as a result of the opening up of previously abandoned oil wells and surface facilities as well as the stemming down of illegal artesanal activities that have been the mainstay of oil thieves dotting everywhere in the Niger Delta swamps."

The Qungiyar Mutanen Arewa further lampooned the Nigeria Navy in its recent arrest it carried out against some Tantita personnel namely: Asonja Goddey, Obajimi Oluwaseyifunmi, Awolowo Aribo, and Oluwadaisi Balogun, and wondered what has become of the "existing Inter Agency security collaboration and coordination council which ensures that members of the Nigerian military are always with Messrs Tantita any time it is involved in intelligence activities or in the pursuit of oil thieves."

The Forum while applauding the Nigerian military for its relentless sacrifice to Nigeria, said it finds it difficult to believe that "the Nigerian Navy that arrested these men are operating in the same trajectory and route with their colleagues in other sectors," just as it called on "President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as Commander-in-Chief of the Federation of Nigeria, to immediately call the Nigerian Navy segment that appear to have lost its focus in the oil river to order."

Going forward, the Forum demanded for "a new security template to include but not limited to pushing the Nigerian Navy in the oil rivers back to its primordial role in protecting interference in the nation’s marine blue line and to effect arrest of any illegal activities across the blue line that may emanate from inbound marine activities so as to allow other security agencies assigned to police the Nigerias water ways do their jobs."

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