Curbing the excesses of non-state actors

Allowing a non-state actor to wage war against a country’s armed forces is the sort of thing that has engendered chaos in countries like Sudan. In Nigeria, the rise of non-state actors has brought about a mix of benefits and challenges.

While some have played crucial roles in providing essential services and promoting development, others have exploited the country’s governance gaps to perpetuate violence, corruption, and instability.

As Nigeria grapples with the complexities of non-state actor engagement, it is imperative to explore effective strategies for curbing their excesses and promoting a more stable and secure environment for all citizens.

The impunity with which Government Ekpemupolo a.k.a Tompolo is operating, making false and baseless allegations against the Nigerian military, is very concerning and disturbing. Every couple of months now, Tompolo repeats a strategy he seems to have perfected — he goes to town with a sensational accusation against the military.

This is very sad. A man who is paid with public funds to support law enforcement agencies with community surveillance, should not be allowed to wage a media war of misinformation and disinformation against those he’s meant to be supporting.

It is concerning enough that Tompolo led Tantita regularly takes credit for the achievements of the military in the Niger Delta. It is outrightly dangerous that he makes all manner of false accusations to undermine them.

The major successes Nigeria has seen in fight against oil theft have come primarily from the heroic efforts of the Nigerian Navy and other security agencies – not from the private contractors who exist mainly to provide community-based surveillance.

On more than one occasion, Tantita has illegally boarded and harassed vessels that have been cleared by NNPCL, NUPRC and NMDPRA. Affected vessels include MT PRESTIGIOUS and MT MONTAGU, in May 2024, and MT LADY MARTINA in November 2024, causing a production disruption that deprived Nigeria of hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil.

These vessels were all arbitrarily and baselessly intercepted and harassed by Tantita, despite having all the necessary clearance and documentation for product loading. The only explanation for these actions by Tantita is an intent to extort, a gross violation of the enabling environment vision of the President Bola Ahmes Tinubu’s administration.

Tantita is not the only private maritime security company in Nigerian waters, there are many others working assiduously with the military and other security agencies. This begs the question: why is it only Tantita sticking out like a sore thumb?

On a positive note, from the military, the substantial investments of the previous and current administrations in bolstering the Navy’s operational capabilities, through the acquisition of new platforms and technology, have been paying off quite impressively.

Nigeria’s exit from the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy List was the outcome of the Nigerian state-of-the-art Navy’s Falcon Eye system, which was commissioned in 2021, supported by the Deep Blue project of NIMASA, whose assets, by the way, are manned and operated by the Navy.

Following the 2022 exit from the Piracy List, there was the landmark interdiction of the Heroic Idun tanker that was illegally trying to take crude oil out of the country. The Nigerian Navy pulled off a most impressive feat, working with regional partners. This effort and many others did not feature Tantita in any way, as it does not have the capacity or capability to even do any work in Nigeria’s deep offshore waters, where the security stakes are highest.

Mention must also be made of the increasing levels of security coordination in the maritime environment, led by the Office of the National Security Adviser, with the Nigerian Navy as the lead operating agency, and the support of various other agencies. All hands have been on deck, but Tantita does not seem to be pleased with this state of affairs. The Nigerian media have a lot of work to do, and tough questions to ask.

Close watchers know that there is a direct connection between Operation Delta Sanity, launched by the Chief of Naval Staff in January 2024, and the steady surge in oil production levels this year, such that Nigeria is now gearing up to hit a production of two million barrels of oil and condensate per day.

In October 2024, Operation Delta Sanity resulted in the destruction of 23 illegal refining sites, 30 ovens, 26 reservoirs, 19 dugout pits, 21 wooden boats, and the recovery of large quantities of crude oil and diesel.

There is no doubt that the challenge of oil theft is still with us. But there is equally no doubt that the Nigerian Navy and other security agencies have been raising the stakes against the criminal elements behind this theft, and associated illegal refining; and the reported incidents of theft are slowly but surely declining.

The results are evident in rising production levels, and the increasing confidence of onshore operators. Gratifyingly, both the NUPRC and NMDPRA confirm that the Trans-Forcados and Trans-Niger Pipelines have consistently recorded 100 percent output for many months.

It seems like Tompolo and his Tantita desperately want the credit for this, and the only way they can do this is to undermine and blackmail the Nigerian military. But my interactions with senior military personnel make it clear that they will not be deterred by what the Defence Headquarters recently described as “cheap blackmail.”

This is also a call on all the professional organisations that keep legitimizing Tantita’s unprovoked attacks on the military, to please step back and try and interrogate Tantita’s claims. The ability to rush to the media to make unfounded allegations should not confer any validity to the allegations.

By their very nature, the military will not descend into the gutters of mudslinging with non-state actors who appear driven to desperation by pecuniary considerations. Tantita should focus on its pipeline surveillance contract and leave the military to its constitutional duties. A country that allows non-state actors to carry on like this is laying a dangerous precedent that will ultimately backfire. A word is enough for the wise.

Qazim writes from Ilorin