Former Niger Delta militants and leaders of ethnic militia groups have threatened to sue the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over its failure to pay debt arising from the pipeline security contracts. The immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan had signed the initial threemonth contracts, spanning from March 15 to June 15 in the build-up to the last general elections that were awarded to security companies owned or promoted by the ethnic militia leaders.
The security companies are: Dr. Fredrick Fasehun’s New Age Nigeria Limited; Chief Gani Adams’ Donyx Global Concept Limited; Alhaji Mujadeen Asari- Dokubo’s ATEF Nigeria Limited; Chief Bibo Pere Ajube’s Galery Security Services Limited; Chief Joshua Machiever’s Bajeros Nigeria Limited; Chief Omo’s Close Body Protection Limited and Izon Ibe’s Security Limited. However, the oil corporation terminated the contract shortly after the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari who defeated Jonathan in the presidential stanza of the general elections.
But in an open letter to Buhari, a copy of which was given to New Telegraph, the contractors demanded immediate settlement of their fees, having fulfilled their own part of the deal. “It should be known that the contractors had valid and duly signed contract agreements with the management of the NNPC to protect the pipelines for a period of three months,” the letter read in part. The letter added that instead of the NNPC fulfilling its own part of the deal, “the public perception of the NNPC pipeline security and surveillance job was that former President Goodluck Jonathan gave the job to the contractors on a platter of politics.”
After a meeting held on August 14 in Lagos, the contractors in the letter titled: “Open Letter to President Buhari and NNPC by pipeline security and surveillance contractors,” stated that if the government failed to accede to their request for the payment for the job they did by the end of August, they would resort to litigation.
The letter read in part: “What we are demanding from the NNPC is for it to redeem its own part of the contract agreement and should not be seen as a favour and handout to any individual. By this, we have resolved that by the end of this month, if the NNPC fails to redeem its contractual obligation and refuses to pay us, we would be left with no choice but to take them to court, an action which we think may not do the credibility of the government any good because it is a case based on contractual agreement that was legally signed by a parastatal of government.
“It is also important to know that within the period of the contract, all the contractors experienced one form of loss or the other, either financially, death, physical injuries, or in most cases all the losses.” The ethnic militia leaders stated that they incurred huge debts due to loans from banks and other financial institutions they took to fund securing the pipelines. “It is on the record that in the South-West and South-South, more than eight staff were killed by the vandals in their desperate bids to gain access to the pipelines, while more than 60 of our men received various degrees of injuries. Even as we speak, the bodies of one or two of our men killed by vandals are still lying cold in the morgue.”
The contractors urged Buhari to compel the NNPC to pay for services rendered by their companies. They also said they would “explore all peaceful and diplomatic avenues to get our dues from the NNPC.” They, however, urged the NNPC, the Federal Government and Buhari to ensure the settlement of their bills.
“Going by his promise to serve Nigerians irrespective of ethnic or religious inclination, we believe that President Buhari would use his good office to intervene in this matter in order to ensure that justice is done. “As an important and foremost parastatal of the Nigerian government, we appeal to all those behind this obvious injustice being meted to us for answering a national call to serve fatherland.
“Your Excellency, we decided to toe this line of action because of our firm belief in your promise during your inauguration ‘to belong to everybody and belong to nobody,’” the contractors added. They said contrary to the impression created by the government that the contracts were terminated, they had run their course.
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