…Says it employed youths, placed wives, aged ones on salary
…Some of the reformed youths may want to become seafarers – MASPAN
In a bid to curb the inherent economic sabotage in parts of the country, the Management of Tantita Security Services Limited has said that it literally applied and secured amnesty for over 400 people in the region of its operation who are tagged criminals and are on the wanted list of various security agencies in the country.
The Director, Operations and Technical Support, Tantita Security, Captain Warredi Enisuoh who disclosed this while fielding questions at the maiden Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria, MARAN Annual Lecture with the theme, “Maritime Security: Emerging Threats And Actionable Steps”, held in Lagos on Wednesday, said that one of the reasons Tantita had been very successful was its resolve to consult with the locals.
He revealed that while it was a requirement that the company had to employ people within the region where pipelines are domiciled, the company went further to apply for amnesty for a lot of people in those region who were under the watchlist of corporate security forces because they were going to arrest them if they were found.
“So, they were hiding, we had to approach the government security forces, assuring them that Tantita will take responsibility going forward and they told us to list the names of the wanted people that we want to take. If I am not mistaking, we have over four hundred people that were on the wanted list that we had to take out of circulation because we felt that if we are only going to pursue these people, there will be no solution. They are very intelligent, you can see the way they are evoluting from one method to another method. So, we have to incorporate them into this surveillance plan.
“So, literally, we applied for amnesty for over four hundred wanted people that were tagged as criminals. That’s what Tantita did and one of the things that we used to convince the government to lay off and make these people comfortable was the fact that if these guys have something alternative to do, they were not going to partake in anything sabotage. Give us the chance to work with them and we are happy that the government did give us that chance to work with them. So, part of our success story today lies in their hands”, he said.
Noting that it was not easy for the government to just release money to people since Nigeria was a country where there was no database of citizens, he argued that the moment government designated one area for free money, everybody would be national of that area one way or the other.
“So, it is only best that we find things for people to do because even we at Tantita, we are doing that already. When this job started, we know it is through this means (siphoning of crude oil) that some people paid the school fees of their children and so many things. We even saw people who have built boats already to export crude oil, we have to convince them to stop that we are going to do something and in the initial stages, I think it still continuing now, because the job entails able-bodied people to go out there and never come back home.
“What we did was, apart from employing the youths, we kept the married ones and their wives at half the salary of the husband going out. She’s not out there but we don’t want a situation whereby the women will lose their husbands because they have gone somewhere. So, we have to place their wives at home at half the salary the husband goes out to do this job.
“So, the woman has no reason to say I couldn’t feed my family because my husband was out there. We also didn’t want a situation whereby the husband had all the money in his pocket and the woman is out there thinking she must answer to him. So, the woman also have the money to take care of the family while the husband also go out there. We didn’t stop them.
“The older people who we know that are reliant on able-bodied people, we also kept those ones on allowances in exchange for them telling us if they see unusual people come into their communities. So, you can see that we even use the elderly people, engage them, we didn’t want a situation whereby somebody is giving you money, it doesn’t give you a sense of belonging but if you know we are giving you money because you are providing a service to us, it makes you feel better.
“So, even when they sit under their mango tree or whatever, they are having a discussion and they are still having a look around on unusual things that enter their community and they give us that information. So, you can see the extent which we have gone. But I recognize the face that all these things are private sector initiative, and that the government will need to do further but that is what you the Advocates (journalists) will do.as time goes on”, he said.
Applauding Tantita Security’s initiative in empowering the people along its area of operation, the President, Maritime Security Providers Association of Nigeria, MASPAN, Mr. Emmanuel Maiguwa pointed out that the security outfit had laid a good foundation for those people on its payroll to aspire to become proper seafarers, as according to him, some of them would soon outgrow whatever Tantita was doing for them.
His words, “If I will take what Captain Warredi just said about what they are doing for the communities, the issue is, every human being is expected to have some aspiration, you cannot be satisfy with who you are, you will want to grow. So, if they have been reformed by Tantita, don’t we think that some of them will begin to develop the interest to become proper seafarers? That is natural. Some of them will outgrow whatever Tantita is doing. The issue is, if you develop that and you want to become a seafarer today, what are your chances?
“The issue of seafarers’ welfare is the last issue but the availability of platforms for you to work on is the bigger issue. And I want us to look at the structure of our maritime industry so we understand where the problem is. We have the oil and gas sector, which merely take services from the supply vessels. Now, in that particular market, even the owner of the vessel is struggling in the sense that his revenue is contract bound.
“You invest in about $30 million to buy a PSV in anticipation of a contract and because you flagged this PSV under Nigerian flag, the only chance of you getting employment for that vessel is contract with the IOCs. That contact can be suspended at any time and the moment they suspend, your opaque is usually about 30 to 40 percent of your revenue. That is what you will have to be paying for seafarers while your vessel is waiting for contract which may never happen.
“So, even if you are employed, the redundancy of that vessel is almost 30 percent. That will affect your opaque. So, already, the seafarers are not going to get the best of welfare. Now, the other alternative is the shipping but we are dead shipping wise. That is the other market of maritime, we have gradually become a feeder shipping country. Apart from few companies that have tankers that can still go to Togo and load cargo only because NNPC will not give you Dollars except you load outside Nigeria.
“Now, these are the only opportunity the seafarers have today to be in the vessel other than non-service boats. So, you are basically at the mercy of NNPC. If you decide to buy a bulk carrier, what are you going to do with it? If you decide to buy tanker and say you want to trade internationally, is it going to be under Nigerian flag and you are limited. If you put it under a foreign flag, the your opaque is going to be very high that you cannot compete with your international counterparts because of the financial model that you used in acquiring your vessel.”
Maiguwa maintained that the opportunity that the maritime industry could create was massive but that can only be possible when the right policies were put in place. “Three people acquired tankers this year that I am aware of but they flagged them Panama, they cannot flag it Nigeria because then, it will not trade international.
“So, we must really look into those areas where we can provide massive employment in the maritime industry beyond the foundation that people like Tantita are doing because right now, what Tantita is doing is even opening the eyes of these people to understand the opportunities that are available for them. And by the time they empower themselves with it, the necessary training, then, what next?
“Tantita cannot employ everybody in the Niger-Delta, to employ everybody in the Niger-Delta, that is not the entire problem that the country will have. Then, another set of people will come from another region to try to be employed. So, we must really open up the maritime industry”, he submitted.
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