As Tantita Saves Nigeria Over $40m Daily

L-R: President, Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN), Mr. Godfrey Bivbere; Executive Director, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, Capt. Warredi Enisuoh; former President, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Chief Eugene Nweke; Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Nigeria Shipowners Association (NISA), Chief Isaac Jolapamo; President, NISA, Mr. Sola Adewunmi; President, Maritime Security Providers Association of Nigeria (MASPAN), Mr. Emmanuel Maiguwa; and the Assistant Director, Public Relations, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mr. Osagie Edwards; during the maiden edition of MARAN Annual Lecture, in Lagos, on Wednesday.

Former Director General of  Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA),  NIMASA, Barr. Temisan Omatseye and Capt. Warredi Enisuoh,  former Director of Shipping Development, NIMASA have called for a review of the fees charged at the Secure Anchorage Area, SAA.

The former NIMASA executives argued that since the end of the SAA contract operated by Ocean Marine Solutions Limited (OMSL), foreign vessels now pay over $50,000 for security patrols in the country causing a spike in cost of goods in the country.

Omatseye observed that OMSL SAA activities created  comfort for global ship owners as it filled a lacuna in securing the anchorage area, he expressed the view that SAA, stressing that service could be free or at a much-subsidized cost since the former operators were said to be extorting ship owners.

On his part Capt Warredi wondered “With SAA, a vessel is entering your waters and you say no you cannot enter because you did not pay. The United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) declared the right of passage on the waters for vessels. Nigeria is a signatory to that law, so I am sorry if I made mistakes at that time with my conviction about SAA. Nonetheless, I still stand by it. I will never ever entertain a situation in my country where people will pay to access the waters,” Warredi declared.

In his presentation at the MARAN Lecture, Warredi said efforts by by Tantita  to forestall crude oil theft in Nigeria is estimated to be saving for the country over $40m on daily basis at $90 per barrel”

Capt. Warredi, who is the Executive Director, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, revealed that crude oil thieves have planted CCTV cameras in the creeks to monitor Tantita operatives and operations in the creeks.

According to him “We have places where grass may not grow for the next 100 years because of crude oil theft and associated activities. In the past, these operators utilized fire to process the crude oil but they realized that security operators have drones and night vision capabilities to see the fire trails”

“The switched to electricity, but we discovered their illegal activities with electric and they moved to phosphoric acid. They pour the crude oil into several drums and pour phosphoric acid, then wait for six hours for the acid to convert the crude to diesel that will be fetched from the top.”

Capt. Warredi observed that having chased most of the perpetrators of crude oil theft away from the land areas, they re-strategized and moved to the creeks to attack oil well heads.

“What they do is that they connect hoses from the wellheads into their tanks. These transactions usually take place at night as they go to the wellheads with canoes to fetch crude oil without minding the pollution or possibility of fire outbreak. If the pressure isn’t strong enough, they use a reservoir to fetch the oil. Some of these oil connections flow through cassava farms and farm settlements that you wouldn’t suspect to be involved in crude oil theft,” Warredi said.