By: Felix Ikpotor
Rivers State Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources, Dr. Peter Medee has described the recently passed Petroleum Industry Bill by the National Assembly as a slap on the people of the Niger Delta region and oil-bearing communities in particular.
Medee said the bill has no tangible benefit for the region.
The commissioner who stated this while appearing on a radio programme monitored by PHSpectator also frowned at the meager three percent approved for the host communities, adding that the lawmakers have showed that they are not concerned about the plight of the people of the oil-bearing region.
He queried the constitution of the trust fund where only oil multinationals have the powers to appoint those to manage it without the host communities having any input or representation.
“When you look at what was given, it’s even more annoying to say 3 percent of what? Is it 3 percent of equity participation or 3 percent of profit?. Now let’s take equity participation. If we are looking at that, now who is in control of the structures of the trust fund? Who’s to manage the fund? Who is in charge of administration? Who appoints board members? Who oversees it? It’s still the oil companies and that’s a greater slap to the host communities because they don’t even have a right to nominate those who represent them on that board. So you can see how disastrous what is said to be passed is to us. Besides that, we also have what is called the pipeline security team where if there is rupture on the pipeline and it’s considered to be sabotage then the cost of repairs will be deducted from this 3 percent. Meaning that the host communities will now pay for that exercise. Now the question is who is in charge of the whole security in the country? Is it the host communities? Is it the host communities that appoint Inspector General of Police, commanders of all the armed forces? The same people. Now they fail to secure the pipelines and they asked the host communities to pay for it. You also look at what they call host communities in the bill. They are not just looking at it in terms of oil-bearing communities but rather pipeline communities. That is if pipeline passes your community then you’re a host community. That alone wouldn’t have been the problem but come to look at it that means the pipelines moving from Port Harcourt to Kaduna can you see the number of communities it passes? By this bill now all those communities are now host communities and they are all to benefit from this 3 percent. When you look at that, by the time this three percent is collected and shared to all these communities which one will come to my community? Which one will come to my state? That’s the trouble we are beginning to face,” he said.
The energy commissioner also queried the system whereby some states in the north are allowed to control their mineral resources while the Niger Delta is being denied the opportunity to benefit maximally from their resources.
He noted that the region needed ten percent but if the bill had approved five or seven percent, it would have been considerate.
