By Odeli David
The Niger Delta is not merely a geographical expression; it is Nigeria’s strategic economic engine room. From the creeks of Escravos to the high seas of Bonny, billions of dollars circulate through businesses engaged in oil and gas exploration, fabrication, construction, instrumentation, aviation logistics, marine operations, FPSO services and subsea activities.
Yet, despite the enormous economic value generated from the region, a significant proportion of the major contracts within the Niger Delta oil and gas value chain continue to be controlled or executed by multinational corporations and Nigerians from outside the region.
Against this backdrop, the current controversy surrounding pipeline surveillance contracts deserves sober reflection rather than inflammatory rhetoric.
https://thespotlightnewsmagazine.com/let-our-campaign-be-issue-based/
Why Target Pipeline Surveillance Contracts?
One question that should concern stakeholders is why pipeline surveillance contracts — among the relatively few areas where indigenous Niger Delta companies have been deliberately given opportunities to participate, have become the subject of intense public controversy.
These contracts are often executed by companies with local knowledge, community relationships and an understanding of the difficult terrain in which oil infrastructure operates. They also provide employment opportunities for young people in the region and can contribute to reducing pipeline vandalism and other forms of insecurity.
If such contracts were routinely awarded to companies based in Lagos, Kano or Abuja, many Niger Deltans would understandably raise questions about marginalisation and local content.
Now that indigenous companies are participating, the objective should be to strengthen accountability, transparency and efficiency — not to destroy the limited economic space that local businesses have managed to secure.
That is not a struggle for justice. It risks becoming self-sabotage.
The Niger Delta Must Look Beyond Pipeline Surveillance
The region’s economic potential extends far beyond pipeline surveillance.
There are enormous opportunities in offshore drilling, wellhead maintenance, crude lifting, marine security, helicopter services, dredging, waste management, fabrication, logistics and other aspects of the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors.
Rather than allowing disagreements over a relatively narrow segment of the industry to divide the region, Niger Delta stakeholders should be asking a more fundamental question: How can indigenous businesses gain a larger share of the billions of dollars generated within the region?
The answer lies in organisation, strategic advocacy, professional competence, transparency and collective bargaining.
If the people of the Niger Delta genuinely want greater participation in the oil economy, they must protect indigenous enterprises while demanding that such businesses operate within the law and meet the required professional standards.
Ownership Must Be Matched With Organisation
There is no denying that the natural resources extracted from the Niger Delta have enormous implications for the people and communities of the region.
But ownership without organisation, economic strategy and mutual respect can produce little more than perpetual agitation.
The region cannot afford to spend all its energy fighting over the few opportunities that have reached indigenous businesses while leaving the much larger opportunities untouched.
The bigger battle should be about how to create Niger Delta-owned marine companies, aviation firms, fabrication giants, logistics companies, engineering enterprises and energy-service businesses capable of competing nationally and internationally.
Asari Dokubo and the Need for Restraint
In recent weeks, the public interventions of former militant leader Asari Dokubo, particularly his reported criticisms of private companies operating in the region, have generated considerable debate.
Whatever one’s position on the issues involved, disagreements over business operations should be handled through appropriate regulatory, legal and institutional channels.
No individual, regardless of status or influence, should be allowed to become a substitute for the courts, regulators or other competent institutions of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Criticism is legitimate. Questions about contracts, transparency and performance are legitimate. Public accountability is equally legitimate.
However, threats, blackmail, intimidation or attempts to mobilise communities against legitimately operating private businesses should never become an acceptable substitute for due process.
Where a company has violated the law, the appropriate institutions should investigate and take action. Where there are legitimate contractual disputes, the parties should use the mechanisms provided by law.
Government Must Protect Legitimate Businesses
The Federal Government, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and responsible Niger Delta leaders have important roles to play in maintaining stability within the region.
They must ensure that legitimate businesses can operate without intimidation while also ensuring that companies benefiting from public or strategic contracts are subjected to appropriate oversight.
The Niger Delta should not become an environment where an individual can, through public pronouncements alone, determine who is entitled to operate, who should receive a contract or which private enterprise should survive.
The rule of law must remain the ultimate arbiter.
The Real Fight Should Be for Greater Inclusion
The Niger Delta has a much bigger economic conversation to hold.
How do we get more Niger Deltans into the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors?
How do we build indigenous marine and aviation companies capable of competing with established international players?
https://guardian.ng/news/nysc-abduction-adebayo-demands-rescue-security-overhaul/
How do we develop world-class fabrication and engineering firms owned by people from the region?
How do we ensure that Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Isoko, Ogoni, Ibibio, Efik, Ilaje, Ikwerre and other Niger Delta communities can pursue their economic interests through dialogue, unity and strategic engagement?
These are the questions that deserve our attention.
The fight should be for more inclusion, not the destruction of the little inclusion already achieved.
The Niger Delta does not need another cycle of internal economic warfare. It needs institutions, investment, local content, professionalism and a united strategy for capturing a greater share of the enormous economic opportunities generated from its soil and waters.
The region must learn to distinguish between legitimate accountability and destructive interference.
Enough of the distraction. The bigger battle is economic empowerment, and that battle must be fought collectively.
