Popular Niger Delta militant, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, has emerged as the 2022 Maritime Man of the Year of the Maritime Media Limited.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Tompolo, who is the chief executive officer of TANTITA Security Services Limited, one of the companies contracted by the Federal Government to provide surveillance and protection services for the network of crude oil pipelines in the Niger Delta region, selection was announced by Maritime Media Limited, a media consultancy and publishing outfit with special focus on Nigeria’s maritime industry.
Elder Asu Beks who is Media Limited Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Maritime unveiled the organization’s winner in a statement issued in Lagos at the weekend.
According to him, since President Muhammadu Buhari in August this year made the bold call to involve private sector organizations in pipeline surveillance and protection, the near-total crippling of crude oil export has been easing off.
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Explaining the rationale for Tompolo’s choice, Beks whose Maritime Media Limited publishes Shipping World magazine, an authoritative industry journal and produces Shipping on Radio, a weekly current affairs programme, noted that at the time the initiative was announced in August 2022, it seemed controversial and attracted mixed reactions from Nigerians.
‘However, due to the scandalous rate of oil theft that made Nigeria unable to meet the production quota allotted by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and with no revenue from crude oil sales to power the nation’s foreign exchange reserves, it was time for the Federal Government to return to the strategy that had proved to be reliable and effective.
‘One of the organizations involved in the exercise is TANTITA Security Services Nigeria Limited, which has High Chief Government Ekpemupolo as the chief executive. Since the appointment of the company, High Chief Ekpemupolo has deployed strategic assets and platforms to great effect.
‘The contract is an endorsement of Tompolo’s track-record in the provision of maritime and oil and gas surveillance and security services, and is already yielding results with the uncovering of illegal refineries, conduit pipelines and tapping points across the Niger Delta region.
‘From August 2022 when the Federal Government approved the oil pipelines surveillance and protection initiative, Tompolo’s patriotic zeal and commitment to restoring sanity to Nigeria’s oil industry has seen the discovery of over 58 illegal pipelines and tapping points.
‘The defining accomplishment of TANTITA Security Services is the recent discovery of an illegal connection to the 48-inch Trans Forcados Export Trunkline in the Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.
‘Based on these accomplishments and many more, the Editorial Board of Maritime Media Limited which has been following with sincere interest, Tompolo’s exemplary and uncommon leadership as Chief Executive Officer of TANTITA Security Services Nigeria Limited, where he has set a new standard for private sector participation in maritime and oil and gas assets integrity and security, voted unanimously to elect High Chief Government Ekpemupolo the 2022 Maritime Man of the Year,’ the statement reads in part.
The ceremony to confer the award on High Chief Ekpemupolo has been scheduled for tomorrow at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.