The United Niger Delta Congress (UNDC) has condemned the National Assembly’s vote of confidence on Tantita Security Services Ltd over pipeline surveillance contracts, describing the action as unconstitutional and a violation of existing laws.

In a statement issued on Tuesday and signed  by the UNDC President Comrade Julius Malam-Obi and the Secretary General Hon Emaluji the group said  the legislature lacked the constitutional mandate to award, renew, or endorse pipeline surveillance contracts, stressing that their ole is limited to lawmaking and oversight, not executive implementation or the conferment of legitimacy on private commercial arrangements.

The UNDC argued that the decision contradicts provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), particularly Section 257, which recognises host communities as critical stakeholders in the protection of oil and gas assets within their territories.

According to the group, the alleged concentration of over N2.1 trillion pipeline surveillance contracts in the hands of a few firms amounts to economic exclusion and poses a threat to peace and stability in the Niger Delta.

It warned that assigning surveillance responsibilities in one ethnic nationality to external entities, while excluding indigenous communities, could trigger unrest in the region.

The group also questioned the effectiveness of the current arrangement, citing the recent interception of a vessel laden with crude oil valued at over $300 million by the Joint Task Force (JTF), rather than the contracted surveillance firms.He said the recent incident  has raised concerns about the value and efficiency of the existing surveillance structure

The Niger Delta  group further observed  that since the agitation for the decentralization and restructuring of the pipeline surveillance framework gained traction, Nigeria’s daily oil production has reportedly risen to about 1.84 million barrels per day up from the 1.3m -1.4m that it has been for years.

They said  “This development suggests one of two troubling possibilities: either Tantita has been grossly ineffective in the discharge of its duties, or it has, at best, been negligent, and at worst, allegedly complicit in the persistence of oil theft”

They argued that decentralisation of  pipeline surveillance contracts to host communities would enhance accountability, improve intelligence gathering, and strengthen the fight against oil theft.

The group said “The Niger Delta struggle was never fought to replace external marginalization with internal domination. It has always been about justice, dignity, and equitable participation. Any attempt, by any individual or entity, to corner opportunities that rightfully belong to the collective people of the region is a betrayal of that struggle.”

They warned that  no single individual or group has the mandate to appropriate the economic rights of diverse ethnic nationalities within the Niger Delta as every ethnic nation in the  region has competent and capable sons and daughters fully qualified to participate in pipeline surveillance and related engagements within their territories. Denying them this right is not only unjust, it is deeply provocative.

The group further passed a total Vote of No Confidence on  Tantita Security Services and Maton Engineering following  the recent interception of vessels carrying crude worth $300 million by the JTF and another vessel  worth N4 billion by the Nigerian Navy in the areas controlled by the two companies owned by two cousins.
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They also called for strict compliance with the Petroleum Industry Act, especially provisions guaranteeing the role of Host Communities in safeguarding oil and gas assets and the dismantling of monopolistic pipeline surveillance arrangements calling for the  decentralization of such contracts to reflect fairness, competence, and ethnic equity.

They called for an end  to all forms of economic exclusion and internal domination within the Niger Delta, saying the the path to peace in the Niger Delta is justice and the  foundation of stability is inclusion and any policy or action that ignores these truths is a deliberate invitation to unrest.

They stated “If those in authority truly seek to avoid setting the Niger Delta on fire, the solution is simple and immediate: uphold the rule of law, respect the rights of Host Communities in their respective ethnic nations, dismantle monopolies, and embrace equity. Anything less will be seen for what it is, a conscious decision to deepen injustice and provoke avoidable tension.”