The Executive Director of Operations and Technical Services, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, Captain Warriedi Enisuoh has said oil thieves have started monitoring security agents with CCTV cameras.
The Tantita director disclosed this during an interview with PUNCH newspaper while listing some of the challenges Tantita has been encountering in the process of actualising its mandate of securing oil pipelines in the Niger Delta.
He said oil thieves are now evolving in technology to evade arrest and continue their illegal oil business.
He however stated that the surveillance firm is also evolving technologically including “procuring
modern detection systems, including anti-intrusion detection systems that will automatically sound an alarm once anyone goes near the pipelines.”
He said, “There are quite a few challenges. Chief among the challenges is the fact that the illegality went on for quite a while and for people who had formed a lifestyle in such illegality to suddenly have that lifestyle taken away from them was a very big challenge.
“Some people just did not have anything to do except this, which is to tamper with pipelines. You know the socioeconomic challenges were there. One of the first things that our chairman had to deal with was this socioeconomic challenge.
“So, instead of going in first with the stick, he decided that the best was to go in with the carrot. In that way, he was able to bring a lot of people who were involved in it together to stop, and in exchange, they would be part of those to protect the pipelines.
“So, in that way, you don’t have any excuse in coming up to say, ‘I have nothing to do and I will go back to it’. No. You already have something to do, being part of the process that is going to help the country stand on its feet economically, especially for this particular sector.
“Now, I will tell you a couple of things. Tantita has no fewer than 45,000 employees. You can imagine taking on that much in less than a year! Out of these 45,000 employees, we have older people who are more effective staying in their communities and watching their communities to make sure that people don’t come in to entice the younger ones to go and do something devilish.
“So, these are people who give us information. The married ones who left their families behind to go and do this job are being paid.
“Their wives are home, and they are also given stipends to look after the house, while their husbands are away. We have such. So, these are some of the things we had to do to ensure that the whole thing went well.
“Another challenge we face is the fact that international ships continue to penetrate the Nigerian coast to get free oil. It is quite an expensive thing to pursue ships at sea, but we have never relented.
“As you can see from the records, we have caught quite several ships with the assistance of the Nigerian security forces, which have come together to ensure that we win this battle against those who are perpetrating illegalities against the country.
“Another major challenge is the fact that illegal oil bunkers are also evolving technologically as we take the battle deep into their territories to fight the scourge.
“They are also becoming smarter by installing CCTV cameras in their areas of operation to give them early warnings so that they can ambush those who are coming to disrupt their illegal businesses.
“However, we are also evolving with technology to beat them to it. Going forward, we have procured modern detection systems, including anti-intrusion detection systems that will automatically sound an alarm once anyone goes near the pipelines. It is not that we will catch you stealing oil; we will prevent you from stealing oil. So, we are also evolving with that.”
