For those who haven’t heard, 43 year old ex-militant, High Chief
Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) on Monday 26th August 2013
received his LearJet 60SE produced by Canadian aerospace company
Bombardier. The Jet according to aviation sources cost a whopping sum of
$13.3 million (N2.12 billion).
The aim of this article is not to
rubbish the person of Tompolo, [what is there to rubbish anyway] but to
address inter alia; the scenarios that continue to play out in favour
of his ilk, institutions and systems that perpetually endeavour to make
his likes overnight celebrities. I would also analyse the opportunity
cost of his latest toy.
The Man Tompolo
Tompolo was born
Government Oweizide Ekpumopolo in 1970 into the family of Chief Thomas
Osei Ekpempulo and Mrs Sologha Ekpemupol of Okorenkoko in Gbaramatu
kingdom in Warri South-West Local Government Area of present Delta
State. He attended Edah Primary School, Madagho and Kunpa Primary
School, Kunukunuma before later proceeding to National Comprehensive
College, Warri where he completed the SSCE in 1993.
After a brief
stint as Managing Director of his father's family business, Tompolo
Nigeria Limited, his militancy career began in 1997, during the struggle
to ‘liberate’ the Ijaws from the dominance of its neighbours -- the
Itsekiris. General Sani Abacha had then relocated Warri South Local
Government headquarters from Ogbe-Ijoh to Itsekiri’s Ogidiben and thus,
an Ijaw ‘Soldier’ was born.
After the struggle, he relocated to
Oporoza due to threats to his life and there, he started the struggle
against the oil majors and the federal government for what he perceived
as injustice against ‘their land’–usually the rhetoric for Niger Delta
militants.
True to his name, Government Ekpumopolo was an
authority of some sort. Traditional rulers, local council men,
lawmakers, governors differ to him. To show the power Tompolo wields,
during the visit of then Vice President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to his
terrorist headquarters at the notorious Camp 5, he instructed all the
Vice President’s entourage, security details, and other officials to
stay outside the camp, allowing only Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in for
‘consultation’ (I wonder what they must have agreed in secret).
He
led several ‘successful’ guerrilla attacks against Shell, almost
crippling their production capacity in the Niger Delta. The company had
no choice but to start paying some sort of ‘security fees’ to the
warlord.
Tompolo started consulting in security matters for the
oil companies, the Federal Government and the Joint Task Force to
maintain some level of peace. Things got out of hand after his men
beheaded 11 military men comprising of 1 officer and 10 rank and file of
the Nigerian Army. That development forced the Chairman of the Joint
Task Force in the Niger Delta, Brig. Gen. Sarkin Yaki Bello to declare
him wanted, dead or alive.
His Entrance Into The Nigerian Billionaires Club
When
the late President Musa Yar'adua took oath of Office in May 2007, he
promised to bring an end to the Niger Delta insurgency, offering them a
state pardon for all their criminal atrocities.
In June 2009 when
the implementation of the amnesty programme started, thousands of youth
surrendered their arms and ammunitions, with a report stating that
Tompolo along with 1,500 militants handed in a cache of weapons that
included general purpose machine guns, grenades, rocket propelled grenade launchers, explosives and a large number of assorted weapons.
Unfortunately,
President Yar’adua who originated the idea died of some ailment and Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan, the Vice President as it then was, took the reins of
power.
In what seemed like an
opportunity-comes-but-once-so-lets-seize-it-and-settle-the-boys-bigtime-kind-of-contract,
the Goodluck administration through NIMASA, headed by Ziadeke
Akpobolokemi (said to be Tompolo’s candidate for the NIMASA job),
awarded a contract worth $103.4million (N15billion) maritime
surveillance contract to Tompolo’s company--Global West Vessel
Specialist Limited (GWVSL). The contract stated that GWVSL will provide
security for oil pipelines, repel pirates and oil thieves, guard the
nation waterways and also (wait for this), COLLECT LEVIES ON BEHALF OF
NIMASA. The agency said about N124billion is expected to be generated by
GWVSL for the federal government.
In a memo dated 9 November,
2011 with reference number PRES/99/MT/61 and titled Award Of Contract
For The Strategic Concessioning Partnership With NIMASA To Provide
Platforms For Tracking Ships And Cargoes, Enforce Regulatory Compliance
And Surveillance Of The Entire Nigerian Maritime Domain, President
Jonathan approved the contract and it was rubber stamped by the Federal
Executive council in one of its weekly contract awarding bazaars on 5
January, 2012.
The contract will run for 10 years, though
President Jonathan through NIMASA has promised not to renew the contract
after the expiration of its present term. But to show how desperate
Jonathan was in securing the contract for his friend and personal
confidant – Tompolo – he wrote to the National Assembly, withdrawing an
earlier similar proposal submitted by his predecessor which sought to
create a coast guard comprising of all the security agencies to man the
country’s maritime domain. But why should he not, when NIMASA presently
pays Tompolo’s GWVSL N49m weekly for vessel hired by the agency?
The Nigerian Debacle
We
have heard over and over how the Nigerian system rewards honest labour
with hardship and award criminal endeavours with the juicy contracts and
patronage which only feather the nest of cronies.
Fellow
militants who didn’t labour (killed) as much as Tompolo weren’t rewarded
as much. I pity men of the Nigerian Military who daily sacrifice their
lives for nothing. I hope Abubakar Shekau will not be given the same
‘heroic’ welcome whenever he leads his comrades-at-arms to accept the
amnesty proposals of the Jonathan-administration.
Nigerians must
realize that voting for Jonathan come 2015 is a vote for more money in
the hands of those who have wronged and robbed Nigerians of our
God-given resources.
Despite the huge amount being paid to
Tompolo, Nigeria’s Maritime Domain has been less secure. Crude oil theft
has reached an all-time high, threatening Nigeria’s income.
Coordinating minister of the economy last July, lamented the alarming
rate at which Nigeria’s income from oil was being depleted due to oil
theft and bunkering. Tompolo’s militant colleague, Asari Dokubo has
threatened to destroy Nigeria and march his opponents’ bullet for bullet, bomb for bomb, and missile for missile if
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan isn’t re-elected in 2015, because only his stay in
office will guarantee Tompolo's business which will in turn guarantee
continued oil bunkering and theft in the Niger-Delta.
This is
the right time to revoke the Tompolo’s contract. Only a fool employs a
man with a history of dubious character (though forgiven) into a
position of trust, he will always stay true to who he is.
The Opportunity Cost Of Bombardier 60SE Learjet
Economist
define opportunity cost as the alternative forgone. It is the cost of
an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action.
Put another way, it is the benefit you could have received by taking an
alternative action. In layman’s terms, opportunity cost is the other
product that would rather have satisfied your want.
An Example:
If you need a Plasma Television and an iphone; and you divert your
limited resources to purchase the iphone, the opportunity cost (i.e.
what it is costing you) is a Plasma Television set.
Investopedia
cites this vivid example: if a gardener decides to grow carrots, his or
her opportunity cost is the alternative crop that might have been grown
instead (potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, etc.).
In both cases, a choice between two options must be made.
A
LearJet 60SE cost $13.3 million (N2.12 billion), a N2.12 billion we
could have invested into other productive ventures had the contract not
been awarded to Tompolo in the first instant.
The opportunity
cost of Tompolo's private Jet are enormous, I have defined what
opportunity cost is, please fill up the comment section with your
suggestions of public goods we could have purchased with our collective
N2.12 billion in the hands of an ex-militant.
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