By Kelvin Ohoror
The Isoko National Youth Assembly (INYA) has highlighted the impact of radical transparency under Tantita Security Services, revealing that pipeline vandalism has dropped by 81% in key production zones since 2022.
According to Comrade Eniwake Orogun, the success is tied to the company’s openness, visibility, and community-based command structures.
“With payrolls public and offices open, there is now ownership, accountability, and trust,” he noted.
Orogun described the period before Tantita as a “black hole of secrecy” where theft thrived under a cloak of invisibility.
In a strongly worded statement titled, “The Unfiltered Reality of Pipeline Security: A Niger Delta for Progress Over Politics”, Comrade Orogun painted a grim picture of what pipeline protection looked like before 2022.
According to him, Nigeria was losing as much as $3 billion annually due to unchecked oil theft while contractors operated in secrecy, unaccountable to the people and completely absent from the crisis-ridden terrains.
He recalled how, prior to the emergence of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Ltd (TSSNL), pipeline surveillance contracts were awarded to faceless entities with no presence in host communities.
Companies like Pipelines Infrastructures Nigeria Ltd (PINL), he said, managed these contracts under a cloak of invisibility. “These contractors were nameless to communities, invisible in crisis zones, and operated without public scrutiny. The result was a complete collapse in accountability, while contracts flowed and oil theft soared,” he stated.
Orogun argued that the deliberate anonymity of past contractors was meant to serve a narrow circle of political fixers, warlords, and power brokers across ethnic lines.
He noted that community engagement was virtually nonexistent. “Independent audits at the time revealed fewer than 1,000 youths were engaged across the entire Delta State, a token force in a region with a population of over 17.5 million. Youth engagement was a myth.”
The lack of visible accountability led to devastating consequences. Nigeria’s oil production plummeted to 1.2 million barrels per day in 2021. On average, over 200,000 barrels were being stolen every day, with the losses weighing heavily on host communities while contractors kept cashing government cheques. Vandalism spiked, and the security of the nation’s economic lifeline collapsed.
However, the tide turned in 2022 with the entrance of Tantita Security Services, a company owned by former militant leader High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo.
According to the INYA president, Tantita introduced a radical departure from the opaque, exclusive contracts of the past.
“Tantita brought over 10,000 youths into the pipeline protection workforce, including thousands from Urhobo, Ijaw, Itsekiri and Isoko communities,” Orogun said.
“This wasn’t tokenism; payrolls are now published, and community liaison offices were opened in 24 kingdoms. For the first time, people could see and feel the presence of those securing their assets.”
The impact, he said, has been both immediate and measurable. Pipeline vandalism has dropped by 81 percent in key production zones. Nigeria has recovered over 400,000 barrels per day in output within just 18 months. New youth commanders across different ethnicities now lead field operations, breaking away from the past system that was built on patronage and exclusion.
Reacting to recent calls for a return to ethnic monopoly in the award of surveillance contracts, Orogun warned that history must not be repeated.
He recalled that prior to Tantita, pipelines were bombed 47 times in a single year, youth unemployment in the region peaked at 62 percent, and eight communities triggered sanctions under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
He cautioned that reverting to a fragmented, tribal security model would only serve to resurrect criminal syndicates and attract fresh PIA penalties against entire host communities.
“The PIA does not reward disunity. Section 227 imposes collective sanctions on communities for acts of sabotage. Tantita’s cross-ethnic approach not only prevents inter-communal blame games but also strengthens intelligence sharing and ensures everyone benefits from the PIA funds,” he said.
Comrade Orogun insisted that the growing criticism of Tantita Security Services is not a result of failure, but of success. “The agenda behind this criticism is simple, it’s an orchestrated attempt to return to the pre-Tantita era where elite proxies looted oil resources, youths were jobless pawns, and the system was built to hide theft behind falling production numbers.”
He said the Niger Delta faces a critical choice: to unite behind a tested model delivering security, jobs, and community development, or to fragment under the weight of tribal politics, inviting a return to oil theft, collective punishment, and entrenched poverty.
“Niger Delta’s oil sustains Nigeria,” Orogun concluded. “Only unity can sustain the Niger Delta.”
