Niger Delta Leaders have frowned at the compositions of some sections of the Petroleum Industrial Act (PIA), saying that, it has vested too much powers on the Exploration Companies than their Host Communities, in a Conference of the Second Niger Delta Alternative Convergence (NDAC), with support from Oil Watch Africa and Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The Forum called on the Federal Government to review some provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to address the lingering needs of the region.
Executive Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, said there is a need for a quick review of the PIA, saying it currently does not favour the host communities in Niger Delta.
He said it was good that there is a document on operations of companies in the region, but the PIA was defective and needs a quick review.
“The PIA we have is defective in some areas. How could we at this age give Oil Companies the authority to determine who is the Host Community? How can Oil Companies who are foreigners know more about our Communities than we do?”
“How could we allow Oil Companies to determine who will be on the board that will determine how the Money for the Host Communities are utilised?
“How can we in all conscience allow a law that criminalises the local people, that assumes that when there is pipeline vandalism it is caused by the Community?
“We know that oil theft is not done by the local people or poor people, but by the rich people. We have gathered that Nigeria has lost huge revenue recently not by Oil theft but by faulty metering. There is no proper metering”, These were some of the pertinent questions raised by the Executive Director on behalf of the Leaders.
ED Bassey said, the need for the review is imperative, pointing out that Oil Companies should not also assume a regulatory function of its dealings with its hosts.
“There is a need for a quick review of the PIA. The section that talks about the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) going to search for crude oil. “Oil companies cannot tell us who we are.
“They should not have the right of telling us who the host communities are… They shouldn’t be the ones that nominate the Executive Members of the Board that handle the funding of Host Communities.”
The ED HOMEF reiterated that, some of their concerns are: Host communities should not be criminalized, if there is any infringement on facilities of the Oil Companies because they are not the Police, Navy or the Civil Defence Corps.
Also, Rather than raising revenue from gas flaring to invest, there should be a definite deadline to stop gas flaring.
The Director further added that, the conference was designed to create an opportunity for the people of the Niger Delta to chart a way forward in their quest for Peace and Development.
“We are here today to agree on steps going forward. The problems of Nigeria have refused to disappear principally because for 65 years, there is no definite step taken by governing structures at the Federal or State levels to hold polluters accountable.
“We have only seen a bit of this in the Ogoni situation where the polluters were made to pay for the environmental assessment as well as the commencement of the clean up”, Bassey argued.
Ken Robinson, National Publicity Secretary of Pan-Niger Delta Forum also frowned at the lack of preparedness of Government for the 2023 flood projections saying the government has failed to budget for the pre-emptive natural disaster looming.
“On the issue of flooding, that of this year is predicted to be coastal flooding because of the surge of the sea level. No provision has been made in the budget for the flooding for this year. This meeting should be able to amplify this. The Citizens should have some form of Sensitisation on vigilance, the Government needs to be proactive. We need to put our Government on alert, to ensure measures are put in place for the people”, Robinson said.
