"The Opportunity Cost Of Tompolo’s Private Jet" -
08 SEPTEMBER 2013
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 Bombardier SE60 LearJet.
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 bombardier SE60 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.
Kikiowo Ileowo is the editor of The Paradigm and a
public commentator. Engage him on twitter via
@ileowo4ever
Emai: ileowo4ever@yahoo.com
http://www.huhuonline.com/index.php/gc/2183-
the-opportunity-cost-of-tompolo-s-private-jet
2 hours ago

Interesting . . ,

Op go n sit down jor, d guy fought for it. Go hold Babangida who has stolen all d oil money during d windfall of Iraq/America gulfwar. Wat of d family of late Abacha? Who once said can never be poor as Dangote. Hav u ever heard of d name Theophilus Danjuma? Who appears to be d richest Nigerian(crookwise)wit enormous oil blocks to his credit. The list is endless. So let dat guy enjoy n u keep quiet.