Multiple Niger Delta stakeholder groups, peace activists, youth organisations and regional coalitions have this week intensified pressure on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately decentralise Nigeria's pipeline surveillance contracts — ending what they describe as a dangerous and indefensible monopoly held by former militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, through his company Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited (TSSNL), which currently earns approximately ₦48 billion per year of public money to protect oil pipelines across the Niger Delta.
The latest and most forceful call came on Wednesday March 11 when Dr Alaye Tari Theophilus, President-General of the Coalition of Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities, appeared on Arise Television's Morning Show and warned that the monopolistic structure of the current pipeline surveillance contract was actively enabling crude oil theft rather than stopping it. The story was confirmed and reported by Daily Post Nigeria, Legit.ng, Hallmark News, The Will News, and Independent Nigeria, citing petitions, open letters and television appearances by multiple Niger Delta stakeholder groups in the week of March 9-11, 2026.
What The Groups Are Demanding — And Why
The demand from multiple Niger Delta groups is consistent and clear: terminate Tompolo's Tantita contract immediately and replace it with a fully decentralised surveillance system where credible indigenous contractors from each oil-producing state — Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Edo, Ondo, Imo, Abia and Cross River — are selected through transparent, competitive and open bidding processes to protect pipelines within their own jurisdictions.
Dr Theophilus of the Coalition of Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities explained the logic clearly: "You can't ask people to stop artisanal refining when surveillance is monopolised. Illegal vessels load products from platforms because surveillance is monopolised with no checks." He added that decentralisation of pipeline surveillance would act as a direct deterrent to crude oil theft, because local contractors from each community would use local intelligence and local relationships to identify and stop theft in ways that a centralised contractor operating across a vast region simply cannot.
The Niger Delta Centre for Justice and Accountability (NDCJA), led by Executive Director Comrade Efe Justice, went even further — filing a formal petition with President Tinubu demanding the "immediate and unconditional termination" of the Tantita contract. The NDCJA warned that the centralised, monopolistic structure has "ignited dangerous rivalries among former militant leaders, indigenous security companies, community groups, and various stakeholders" — rivalries that, if not resolved, could reignite armed conflict in the region.
The Tompolo Contract — What It Is And How It Started
To understand why this controversy is so explosive, it is essential to understand the history and scale of Tompolo's pipeline surveillance contract.
Government Ekpemupolo — Tompolo — is one of the most powerful and feared figures in the Niger Delta. He was the supreme commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the militant group whose campaign of pipeline bombings, kidnappings and oil platform attacks between 2006 and 2009 cut Nigeria's oil production by more than 40 percent and cost the country hundreds of billions of naira in lost revenue. It was only after President Umaru Yar'Adua's amnesty programme of 2009 that Tompolo laid down arms — and it was after this that successive Nigerian governments began rewarding former militant leaders with security contracts as a way of keeping the peace.
The pipeline surveillance contract was awarded to Tompolo's Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited in 2022 under then-Petroleum Minister Timipre Sylva. The contract is worth approximately ₦48 billion per year — equivalent to roughly $35 million annually at current exchange rates. It covers thousands of kilometres of oil pipelines across the Niger Delta, including the Trans Forcados Pipeline, the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System, and several other critical export infrastructure assets owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and international oil companies.
Why The Groups Say The Contract Has Failed
The groups are not just calling for decentralisation out of principle — they are pointing to hard data showing that Nigeria's oil production has continued to fall short of targets even with Tompolo's Tantita in charge of pipeline surveillance.
The Niger Delta Safety Watch (NDSW), which sent its own open letter to President Tinubu on February 19 2026, cited figures from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and OPEC showing Nigeria's crude oil production in January 2026 stood at approximately 1.46 million barrels per day — below the OPEC quota of 1.5 million barrels per day and far below the Federal Government's 2026 budget benchmark of 1.84 million barrels per day.
The cumulative shortfall between January 2025 and January 2026 was estimated at approximately 18.12 million barrels of crude oil — billions of dollars in lost revenue that could have funded hospitals, roads, schools and salaries across Nigeria.
The NDCJA's petition delivered an even more damning assessment of what Tantita's ₦48 billion per year has actually achieved: "Recent operations have uncovered illegal bunkering networks expanding into urban peripheries, riverine areas, and regions like Abia State in early 2026, indicating that the monopolistic structure has failed to dismantle criminal syndicates and instead allows them to adapt and exploit gaps."
Tompolo Fights Back — The Battle For The ₦48 Billion Contract
Tompolo is not accepting these criticisms quietly. According to Hallmark News, the former militant leader is actively leveraging his relationships in Abuja and across the Niger Delta to defend his contract — and he has powerful allies in both places.
Tompolo's allies argue that his contract has successfully brought peace to the Niger Delta — that the period since 2022 has seen far fewer major pipeline explosions than the turbulent years before his appointment — and that the former militant's deep community networks and local intelligence are irreplaceable assets in the fight against oil theft.
Tompolo himself has controversially taken aim at the Nigerian Navy, accusing them of collusion with oil thieves and interfering in Tantita's operations. The NDSW described these comments as "shameless scapegoating" — but Tompolo's willingness to publicly attack the military reflects just how politically powerful and confident he remains despite the mounting pressure against his contract.
Potential adjustments under consideration by the Tinubu administration include stricter performance targets, splitting territories among multiple contractors, or shifting greater responsibility to state security agencies. But with Tompolo fighting hard to keep control of a $35 million annual contract, any change will come at a significant political cost.
The Threat Of A New Armed Struggle — The Warning Nobody Wants To Hear
Beyond the financial and operational arguments, there is a darker and more urgent warning embedded in the Niger Delta groups' demands — and it is one that President Tinubu cannot afford to ignore.
The NDCJA's petition explicitly warned that the centralised contract structure has "ignited dangerous rivalries among former militant leaders, indigenous security companies, community groups, and various stakeholders." The petition argued that these rivalries, left unresolved through a fair and transparent decentralisation, risk pushing frustrated former militants and youth groups back toward armed conflict as the only way to force the federal government to listen.
Nigeria has been through a Niger Delta insurgency before. Between 2006 and 2009, MEND's campaign cost Nigeria an estimated $8 billion in lost oil revenue and brought production to its knees. The amnesty programme that ended the insurgency has held — but it has held because former militants believed the peace dividend was worth more than the armed struggle. If that calculation changes, the consequences for Nigeria's oil production, its national budget and its overall security would be catastrophic.
Wetin This Pipeline War Mean for Ordinary Nigerians
For ordinary Nigerians wey dey wonder why fuel prices dey high, why electricity dey unstable, and why the government dey complain about revenue — the answer dey partly inside this pipeline surveillance controversy.
Every barrel of crude oil wey dey stolen from Nigerian pipelines na money wey no enter the Federation Account. Every shortfall against Nigeria's OPEC quota na revenue wey no dey available to fund hospitals, schools, roads and salaries. The 18.12 million barrels wey Nigeria lose between January 2025 and January 2026 na money wey every Nigerian — from Lagos to Kano, from Abuja to Enugu — dey miss.
The pipeline surveillance contract controversy na not just a Niger Delta story. E na a Nigeria story. And the decision President Tinubu must make — whether to renew Tompolo's ₦48 billion contract, decentralise it across the oil-producing states, or restructure it entirely — go have consequences for every Nigerian who buys petrol, pays for electricity, or depends on government services funded by oil revenue. 🇳🇬⛽💰
Source: This report is based on statements confirmed and reported by Daily Post Nigeria, Legit.ng, Hallmark News, The Will News, Independent Nigeria, and 9jaSonic, citing petitions, open letters, and television appearances by multiple Niger Delta stakeholder groups including the NDCJA, NDSW, Coalition of Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities, Niger Delta Youths, and MSDND, published between February 19 and March 11, 2026.