Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, a former Niger Delta militant leader, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to pay contractors of the oil pipeline surveillance project in the country.
The pipeline surveillance contract was awarded to some former Niger-Delta militants by the administration of past-president Goodluck Jonathan elapsed on June 15.
Asari Dokubo stated that the ex-minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, failed to sign for the payment of the pipeline surveillance contract before she left office.
The pipeline surveillance project, which was carried out across Lagos, Ogun, Bayelsa, Ondo, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States, was executed from March 15, 2015 to June 15.
“Diezani (Allison-Madueke) did not sign payment for the contract before she left. All across the six states (Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa) where the contract was awarded none of us were paid; none of the companies were paid.”
Asari-Dokubo called on President Buhari to pay the contractors the money owed by the Federal Government, adding that it was the reasonable thing for anyone to do.
Asari Dokubo said, “The Federal Government should do what is needful by paying the money they owe. The same mandate that was given to Buhari to become President was the same mandate that was given to us in a legal and binding contract.
“If Buhari is law-abiding and if his government respects the rule of law, the contractual obligations will be followed. The contract was awarded to corporate entities by the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation. We did not go in as individuals and the corporate entities are regarded as individuals under the law. No contract was awarded to any specific individual.
“The same way they give contract to people to lift oil; the same way they give Julius Berger contracts to build roads; the same way they give people contracts to build houses; that is the same way pipeline surveillance contracts were given to us. But they (FG) are not paying for the work done. It is against the law of the land. Paying us our contract money is the right thing he (Buhari) ought to do and for any reasonable human being”.
The former militant leader appealed to Buhari to refrain from setting a bad precedent by refusing to pay the contractors.
He also said that himself and the other contractors would follow due process in the bid to get their money from the Government.
