In the News:
The High Cost of Security in the Niger Delta :
Dredging and civil construction companies in the Niger Delta are always bemoaning their peculiar costs of operation. DDH conducted a random sampling of views on the issue and it was discovered that the cost of such operation in River and Bayelsa states exceed those of other Niger delta areas, even though cost of operation in all the Niger Delta states exceed those of all other parts of the nation. The major cause of this was found to be the spate of militancy in these communities.
A major aspect of that cost is called “security”. This simple word is a high-budget element now in the Niger Delta and involves the use of armed men from the Police, Navy, Army or any of the federal armed services to keep peace and security in homes, offices or even shopping malls. Generally signified as “Mopol”, this is short form for mobile policemen – men from the Mobile Force Unit of the Nigeria Police.
Due to the prevalence of kidnapping and harassment of people which heightened in the Niger Delta since 2006, extra security measures have become imperative. Every gate or respectable private house, especially in the highbrow GRAs (Government Reservation Areas), would normally have a uniformed security man or men manning the fort, and they would accost the visitor first and foremost with initial inquiries of his motive and quest. If cleared, then entrance into the office or house can be gained to meet the occupants or receptionist as the case may be.
Every company would have these men. Depending on the perceived importance of the occupants of each house or office, policemen, mopol or even a contingent of the JTF (Joint (Military) Task Force) can be found stationed there. These security men don’t come cheap. According to DDH investigation each of these security men must have some personal allowance, aside from feeding and, for some lucky ones, tea and snacks, while on duty. But companies are happy to pay because this is nothing compared to the cost of ransom and settling kidnappers if the worst happens! Either kidnappers or any of the other ragged bands of mischief makers who constitute the lack of peace in the region could change the situation of any company in a matter of minutes if a loophole is exploited.
What about the dredging sites or other dredging and construction projects, what sort of risks and therefore security imperatives face their daily operations? There is no special preserve here as well; they are not free from harassment. One dredging firm’s field executive narrated to DDH the range of costs he has to meet in his operation Aside from nondescript ruffians who exploit the atmosphere of general insecurity to perpetrate crimes or to extort money, the communities where dredging and construction firms are operating maintain a list of their financial demands and charges, some of which are not one-off.
In some communities, the charges for operating in their land is divided into categories for various sets of stakeholders. There are payments to youths, to elders, to chiefs of the community and some names of chiefs must be encoded in the payroll as monthly staff despite the fact that they will never show up to work like other employed staff. These are the costs for peace – a major impediment to good record keeping if you ask some zealous accountants!
At the community level, dredging contractors are having to settle community youths, community development committees and then the land-owning family. At the land-owning family level, the levels of bargain will be represented by sets of family youths, family elders and the landlord proper. Some of these family elders are said to be chiefs and some may have to be the ones on the monthly payroll.
All the foregoing payments have nothing to do with the various governments of the day which insist also on their own permits, licenses, approvals and similar papers. As such, there are the local government authorities which charge for operating permit. From the federal level, there is the NIWA, Ministry of Solid Minerals and Steel Development and the Ministry of Environment. DDH has also been informed about officials from the Forestry Department who come calling.
As of now, there is fairly wide agreement among all observers that pending the proper organization of the Nigerian dredging industry, this free-for-all buccaneering will continue to ravage the ranks of the sector as many perceive that quite some money can always be mooched from men who are operating a lucrative sector. Dredge operators in the Lagos axis seem to be spared the militancy of the Niger Delta but in terms of paying homage to multiplied agencies of the state, they are equally affected.
