Decentralise pipeline contract, Niger Delta stakeholders urge
Niger Delta Roundtable has called for decentralisation of pipeline surveillance contracts. It urged Federal Government to spread tham among states and host communities rather than a single entity. Rising from
Niger Delta Roundtable has called for decentralisation of pipeline surveillance contracts.
It urged Federal Government to spread tham among states and host communities rather than a single entity.
Rising from a meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the group said decentralisation would ensure benefits of the contracts reach communities that bear the brunt of oil exploration and responsibility of safeguarding these assets.
In a statement by Dr. Taro Theophilus, it said its review of the arrangement showed poor performance, noting that illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalism is still widespread.
“In the first eight months of 2025, Nigeria lost 93.74 million barrels of crude oil and condensate against its budget targets. At Bonny Light’s average price of $73.06 per barrel, that translates to $6.85 billion in lost revenue,” the group said.
“These are not opposition figures. They are from Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s data and confirmed by Central Bank.
“The pipeline surveillance contract was designed to prevent exactly this. It has not.”
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The group further noted that 2025 federal budget was benchmarked on a daily production of 2.06 million barrels, but actual output averaged 1.673 million barrels, a deficit of about 390,000 barrels daily.
It added that Nigeria met its OPEC quota of 1.5 million barrels per day in only three months, with September recording the lowest output at 1.39 million barrels per day.
“By January, after six consecutive months of missing its OPEC target, Nigeria was producing 1.459 million barrels per day against a 2026 budget benchmark of 1.84 million barrels,” the statement said.
According to the meeting, the implications for public finance have been severe.
“In July and August 2025, the sector recorded a shortfall of N941.23 billion. In August, royalty inflows stood at N682.28 billion against a projection of N1.144 trillion, leaving a deficit of N461.89 billion.
“Measured over seven months against prorated budget targets, 2025 oil revenue shortfall reached N18.61 trillion. Every naira of that gap represents delayed salaries, increased borrowing, or reduced allocations to states.”
It said illegal bunkering networks thrive, adapting to the surveillance framework.
“Discovery of illegal refining operations as far inland as Abia in early 2026 points to a criminal enterprise that has studied limitations of the surveillance model and learned to operate beyond them.
“A single contractor covers a fixed perimeter. Organised oil theft does not.”
It argued that the current structure, where one company holds surveillance responsibility for the entire pipeline network, lacks competitive pressure and enforceable performance standards.
“When contract renewal becomes inevitable due to the risks of disruption, the arrangement ceases to be a procurement exercise and instead becomes a structural vulnerability in Nigeria’s fiscal architecture,” it said.
The Roundtable emphasised that the Niger Delta is diverse, spanning nine states, multiple ethnic nationalities, and hundreds of communities with deep local intelligence.
“Corridor-specific surveillance, awarded to qualified Niger Delta-based enterprises rooted in the communities they serve, would harness local knowledge to address a problem that a centralised model has failed to solve.
“It would also distribute the economic benefits of these contracts, worth billions of naira annually, across a wider range of stakeholders, rather than concentrating them in a single structure.”
The group warned that the current arrangement creates a single point of failure.
“If the existing contractor’s operations are disrupted, Nigeria has no fallback. Pipelines would be left unprotected. That is a significant risk for a country whose fiscal stability depends heavily on oil revenues.”
The stakeholders called for an independent performance audit of the surveillance contract by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and a credible upstream advisory firm, with findings to be published within 90 days.
They also demanded a transparent and competitive decentralisation of surveillance responsibilities across producing corridors, backed by enforceable performance benchmarks and penalties for underperformance.
In addition, they urged stricter fiscal scrutiny of the contract, in line with standards applied to other areas of public expenditure.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu presides over 37 billion barrels of proven reserves in the Niger Delta and has set a target of producing three million barrels per day by 2030.
“The region’s communities are not seeking to inherit a problem; they are offering to be part of the solution. They understand the terrain, the pipelines, and the dynamics of oil theft.
“Decentralise this contract. Give the Niger Delta both the mandate and the accountability to protect its resources. The federation account will feel the impact,” the statement added.
