Oil Producing Communities Demand Scrapping Of NDDC

Leaders of Oil Producing Communities in Nigeria have called on the Federal Government to scrap the Niger Delta Development Commission to allow for effective administration of resources for regional development.

Addressing journalists at the second day of the public hearing on the Petroleum Industry Bill by the Senate joint committee on Petroleum Upstream, downstream and Gas on Tuesday, the National President of the Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas,  Benjamin Tamaranebi, said that the Government should scrap the commission and transfer all its allocations to the Host Communities for effective management.

He explained that the provision of the Petroleum Industry Bill which seeks to reduce host community development trust funds from ten percent to 2.5 percent would hinder the development in the region as it would deny the people the required funds.

Tamaranebi said NDDC should be scrapped so that the allocation given to the commission could be directly paid to host communities for these critical interventions, especially after the revelations that followed the investigative hearing on the commission.

The Bill also seek to support specific communities impacted by the petroleum industry by providing host communities with direct social and economic benefits from petroleum operations in their area, as well as enhance peaceful coexistence between oil companies and host communities.