Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on Wednesday
flayed the Federal Government over the controversial pipelines surveillance
contract awarded to individuals and private security outfits.
According to Akeredolu, awarding such a magnitude of contract
to a private firm and allowing the beneficiary firms and individuals to bear
assault weapons to the detriment of states that had been requesting such for
the protection of the people was shocking.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum
Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, had explained that it was not the first
time that individuals within the Niger Delta region were awarded a contract for
pipeline surveillance, noting that the contract was for the interest of the
people.
Kyari argued the contract awarded to former Niger Delta
agitator, Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo, would require the
involvement of private entities and community stakeholders, adding that
security agencies are also doing their part.
Akeredolu, in a statement he personally signed and made
available to newsmen through his Chief Press Secretary, Richard Olatunde,
stated that the action implied that the Federal Government had permitted
non-state actors to bear heavy assault weapons while denying the same privilege
to the states.
In the statement entitled “Who Actually Needs Weapon”, the
governor added that the engagement of private organisations to handle serious
security challenges reinforces the belief that the whole defence architecture
in the country needs an urgent overhaul.
He said, “The Federal Government, through the Office of the
National Security Adviser, has been consistent in its refusal to accede to the
request by some States in the Federation to strengthen the complementary
initiatives adopted to protect lives and property.
“This is done in spite of the knowledge that the very issues
which necessitated the creation of these outfits support providing adequate
weaponry. All attempts to persuade the Federal Government to look critically into
the current security architecture have been rebuffed despite the manifest
fundamental defects engendered by over-centralisation.
“The award of contract to private organisations to protect
vandalisation of pipelines raises fundamental questions on the sincerity of the
advisers of the Government on security issues.
“The engagement of private organisations to handle serious
security challenges reinforces the belief that the whole defence architecture
in the country needs an urgent overhaul. The Federal Government cannot be seen
to be playing the ostrich in this regard.”
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