N2.7 Trillion Pipeline Surveillance Claim: Nigeria Deserves Answers, Not Speculation

In a viral video, Asari Dokubo, the former Niger Delta militant leader, said the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, and businessman Osahon Okunbo receive N2.7 trillion a year from the Federal Government for pipeline surveillance. He was defending Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, whose own contract has drawn heavy criticism.

Starting with the arithmetic, Tompolo’s contract was first reported at about N48 billion a year, so Dokubo’s figure is roughly 56 times larger. He first called it a monthly sum before correcting himself to annual; had it been monthly, it would have come to N32.4 trillion a year. Dokubo showed no contract, bank statement or NNPC record. The Olu of Warri’s palace, through its representative, called the claim false and challenged him to produce documents. Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited, which he also named, petitioned the Department of State Services over what it called false and inciting allegations.

According to some commentators, caution is warranted with such reports because of Dokubo’s history. He led the armed Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force against the state, later took a pipeline security contract reportedly worth $10 million a year under the Yar’Adua amnesty, and backed President Bola Tinubu in 2023 before saying the country is worse than it started.

Of course, it is not as if that record makes the question wrong. A contract’s value covers personnel, logistics, and subcontractors, so even a verified figure would not show what any named person earned.

Dokubo also said Tompolo is targeted because he is Ijaw. By itself, that is a claim that turns a question about contracts into one about ethnicity.

Pipeline protection matters to national finances because vandalism and crude theft cut government revenue and foreign exchange earnings. The public is entitled to know who is paid to prevent that loss, how much, and how results are measured.

As experts have concluded, the Federal Government and NNPC Limited can settle this by publishing each surveillance contract’s structure, verified value, duties, and performance measures, withholding only what national security requires. If the claim fails, a clear correction would protect those named.

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