The Nigeria Navy (NN) has a stranglehold on the country’s blue water and deep sea, where its oil and gas assets are located. To end this monopoly, the National Assembly is preparing to establish legislative frameworks.
To secure the nation’s oil and gas assets situated in the deep sea and blue waters, this step would allow private security firms to be accommodated.
This disclosure was made over the weekend by Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Upstream. Doguwa and his colleagues from seven relevant oil and gas committees were inspecting two oil bunkering vessels, MT KALI and HARBOR SPIRIT.
The vessels were impounded by Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited (TSSNL), whose chief executive officer is Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, a former militant commander in the Niger Delta. The inspection was carried out in conjunction with a special task force established by Vice Admiral Emmanuel Oglala, consisting of all government security agencies (GSAs), at Oporoza in the Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta state.
The 26 federal parliamentarians were informed on the events leading up to the vessels’ detention by Tantita’s executive director of operations and technical services, Warriedi Enisuoh, who joined them on the visit.
Ado Doguwa may not have said it explicitly, but the action was to end the Navy’s monopoly on patrolling the country’s blue waters and deep sea. This was brought to light by LEADERSHIP.
MT KALI was detained on January 11, 2024, in Bayelsa state, while HARBOR SPIRIT, a Moldovan vessel, was detained on February 4, 2024, in the coastal axis of Bayelsa state, for crude oil theft from the Sengana oilfields. These incidents were reported to LEADERSHIP.