Rentierism and security privatisation in the Nigerian petroleum industry: assessment of oil pipeline surveillance and protection contracts

Abstract

SUMMARYThis briefing examines rentierism and security privatisation in the Nigerian petroleum industry. It demonstrates how the awarding of oil pipeline surveillance and protection contracts, with little attention to organisational capacity of applicant companies, resulted in widespread discontent among militias and groups not recognised or rewarded by a contract. These groups then intensified attacks on oil infrastructures in the post-amnesty era. The authors' findings endorse the government's 2015 decision to terminate the contracts, while they recommend transparent and democratic management of oil wealth as a long-term solution to human insecurity in the Niger Delta.