PIB: 5% Host Communities Fund Is An Insult To Niger Delta People- Ijaw Group

Oil producing communities have described the five per cent host Communities fund proposed by the Petroleum Industry Bill as an insult on the oil rich Niger Delta region considering the environmental impact of their oil activities.

Comrade Joseph Evah, a Niger Delta activist and the Coordinator, Ijaw Monitoring Group said this on Arise TV Progrmme, ‘News Day.’

Africa’s largest economy passed its historic Petroleum Industry Bill, a legislation which had suffered setback since 2001.

The Chairman of Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum, (Downstream,) Petroleum (Upstream) and Gas, Sen. Mohammmed Sabo said the bill was made up of five distinct and logically connected chapters.

The structure of the legislation covers governance and institutions, administration, host communities development, petroleum industry fiscal framework and miscellaneous provisions. It comprises 319 clauses and eight schedules.

Based on the legislation, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation will operated as a fully registered company under the Companies and Allied Matters Act.

Frontier Basins would get 30 per cent of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s profit, a decision which is facing criticism.

The Niger Delta States which house the nation’s oil resources are expected to benefit from five per cent of the Trust Tund dedicated to the host communities.

There is no common ground yet for both the House of Representatives who favours 5 per cent and the Senate who are in favour of 3 per cent for the oil rich Niger Delta region.

The 3 per cent may be larger than some items contained in the country’s national budget, some stakeholders have claimed. It is estimated at $500m annually.

But the host communities are demanding for 10 per cent of revenues from the operating expenditures of International Oil Companies.

Evah said, “Even the 10 per cent, because we want to also show that we are Nigerians is not we will demand for 50 per cent. We are to demand for 50 per cent. Like what happened in the First Republic before now. But to prove that we are all Nigerians and you should be your brother’s keeper, we are requesting for 10 per cent.

“Even for us to use that to manage our environment is also a big problem. Yet this people (the National Assembly) are insulting us. This is the worst insult.

“Today we are surprised that our people in the National Assembly don’t know what they are doing. We are waiting for them. We asked them to come home, we have been calling their lines. All their lines are off. We want them to come and tell us what happened that this people are insulting our heritage and they are quiet.

“We will never accept that. Those who are looking for trouble in this country, we have the capacity to handle them. 3 per cent, 5 per cent is an insult. We have nothing to tell our children in the next hundred years if we maintain that insult.

“There are allegations that the region has mismanaged the 13 per cent derivation through the Niger Delta Development Commission.

“We will not accept that childish blackmail from anybody in this country. They are not making use of the 13 per cent… Is it the Niger Delta people that appointed the Minister of Niger Delta?”

Evah said the host communities have no hands in the mismanagement, alleging that the NDDC heads have over time been their problem.

“They have no moral right to tell us that they give us 13 per cent derivation and we are not managing it. Who will listen to that?” he added.

He said the position of the people is that the money for the communities should go to them.

Evah said Representatives from the Niger Delta region should have consulted their elder statesmen in the region before agreeing to the deal.

He insisted that those elders “will give them the idea to intimidate the National Assemble members to abide by the host communities demand.

“But you know our people, especially those who just came into power and some of them behave as if they are bigger than God, because of the poverty from our area.

“If they have been consulting, we will not get this disgrace publicly.”