Stakeholders under the Niger Delta Stakeholders Forum (NDSF) have called for the immediate dismantling of Nigeria’s current pipeline surveillance contract framework, describing it as flawed, ineffective, and lacking accountability. In a statement issued in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the group said the existing system has failed to deliver on its core mandate and must be replaced with a transparent, decentralised, and accountable structure capable of addressing crude oil theft and safeguarding national assets. The group’s Secretary-General, Alaye Theophilus, said the forum reached the conclusion after reviewing proceedings of the recent parliamentary roundtable on pipeline security organised by the National Assembly.

According to him, the engagement failed to provide clarity on the effectiveness of Nigeria’s pipeline surveillance architecture, instead exposing deep structural weaknesses and raising serious national security concerns. “The current surveillance contract framework is fundamentally flawed, non-performing, and must be dismantled and replaced with a transparent, decentralised, and accountable system,” he stated. The forum criticised the roundtable as a “stage-managed jamboree” designed to mask failures and questionable activities within the existing arrangement, alleging that the process lacked transparency and excluded critical stakeholders. It argued that a credible review of pipeline security would require full disclosure of operational mandates, performance metrics, and accountability mechanisms of all contractors involved.