03/06/2026
Stakeholders, Lawmakers, Niger Delta Leaders Reject Calls to Decentralise Tantita Cites Petroleum Industry Act 2021
In a firm display of regional and legislative unity, key stakeholders, lawmakers, and leaders from Nigeria’s Niger Delta have overwhelmingly rejected ongoing calls to decentralise or fragment the pipeline surveillance contract awarded to Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited (TSSNL).
They argue that such moves misinterpret the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, risk reversing hard-won security gains against oil theft, and conflate distinct legal frameworks.
Tantita Security Services, led by High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo (popularly known as Tompolo), secured the pipeline surveillance contract from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in recent years.
The arrangement aims to combat rampant crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism, and illegal bunkering that had severely hampered Nigeria’s oil production, at one point dropping below 1 million barrels per day.
Proponents credit Tantita with significant improvements: enhanced local intelligence, community involvement, and coordination that helped restore production levels closer to 1.8 million barrels per day by early 2026.
Before the contract, the region faced widespread environmental degradation, economic losses estimated in billions of dollars, and security challenges that traditional state forces struggled to contain.
Critics and some rival groups have petitioned for decentralization, distributing the contract across multiple firms or ethnic nationalities to promote broader participation, competition, and alignment with host community rights.
They argue a monopoly creates exclusion and potential inefficiencies.
A pivotal joint retreat by the House of Representatives Committees on Host Communities (HOSTCOM) and Public Petitions, held in Owerri, Imo State, in late May 2026, brought together lawmakers and Niger Delta representatives.
The event, themed “Strengthening Pipeline Surveillance Through Host Communities Partnership, Accountability and Sustainable Development Under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021,” resulted in a unanimous vote of confidence in Tantita and a clear dismissal of decentralisation demands.
The retreat adopted a resolution stating: “All calls for the ‘decentralisation’ of the said private pipeline surveillance contract are hereby dismissed in the strongest terms as baseless, anti-Niger Delta, and proceeding from a wilful conflation of two legally distinct matters.” Petitions against the contract were formally dismissed.
Lawmakers emphasized that the Tantita contract is a private commercial agreement between NNPCL and Tantita, governed by principles of privity of contract.
It has no direct statutory link to the Host Communities Development framework under Chapter 3 of the PIA 2021, which establishes Host Communities Development Trusts funded by 3% of operating companies’ actual operating expenses for local development.
Professor S.C. D**e, a expert in energy and environmental law, clarified at the retreat: “When we hear the call for the ‘decentralisation’ of the Tantita contract, what is being demanded… is that a private commercial contract between two named parties should be redistributed… That is not decentralisation. That is not community participation. That is a category error.” He cited legal precedents reinforcing contractual autonomy.
Hon. Dekor Dumnamene Robinson, Chairman of the House Committee on HOSTCOM, declared: “The noise must stop. The PIA has spoken. The Niger Delta has spoken. The host communities have spoken. There is no statutory basis for the so-called ‘decentralisation’ of a private contract.”