By Angela Atabo/Emmanuel Olorniruha

The Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, an NGO, has appealed to the Federal Government to reconsider the cancellation of oil surveillance contract awarded to Antaser Nigeria Limited.

Dr Sam Amadi, the Director of the school at a news conference on Monday in Abuja said the call was imperative to strengthen continuity of contracts in the best interest of the nation.

He said the contract has tremendous value on the economic and social development of the country which included improved port and national security, improved ports and borders service delivery.

He added that it would also reduce the incidents of official oil theft via the export terminals, by almost 95 per cent and enable the control of arms, banned substances, hazardous materials among others.

He recalled that the oil surveillance contract was awarded to Antaser Nigeria limited under Former President Mohammadu Buhari, but was recently canceled and re-awarded to P-Lyne Energy Nigeria Services.

According to him, the contract was doing great under Antaser with great terms and conditions for Nigeria to benefit from, saying there is no need for the cancelation.

“In March 2023, former President Muhammadu Buhari, awarded the contract for the cargo tracking system for 15 years to Antaser Nigeria Limited.

“The contract, which was under a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement, came with a zero cost to the Federal Government.

“ Antaser was to “procure and install” the necessary on and offshore flow metres in all of the country’s exporting points.

He recalled that Buhari while approving the contract said that 15 Nigeria crude oil terminals (FPSO platforms), six floating storage and offloading (FSO) platforms and five crude oil terminals (land platforms) would have electronic magnetic flow metres connected to the Antaser system.

“The contract, approved by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), was projected to yield 2.3 billion dollars over a decade through a 60:40 revenue formula between Antaser and the Nigerian government,” Amadi said.

He explained that to kick start operations, Antaser pledged an upfront investment of 52 million dollars to establish local infrastructure, export facilities, and oil installations for 18 months.

He said that according to the contract proposal, the total costs for running the operations over the initial 10 years were estimated to be one billion dollars, with an annual average cost of operations at 109 million dollars.

These according to him include its global network, maintenance and upgrades of IT infrastructure, licenses, and equipment recalibration among others.

He said that the cancelation of the contract would affect the image of the country and willingness of other investors to invest in the country.

“This practice undermines integrity of governance and expose the country to huge financial sanctions.

“The recent experiences should teach the country lessons on the huge financial costs and political risks of cancelling duly executed contracts.

“These two deficiencies erode the prospect of investment into Nigeria,” he said.

Amadi said that it was critical that Nigerian International Cargo Tracking Note(ICTN) earn its international credibility if the country must be taken seriously internationally.

He added that there was need for the Nigerian Shippers Council to be allowed to immediately implement the concluded contract and save the country any prolonged legal issues and further ridiculing internationally.