This PIB is against host communities, IYLED tackles NASS

A group, Itsekiri Youths Leading Development, IYLED, has taken a swipe on the National Assembly, NASS, saying the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, awaiting harmonization by a Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives, “Is clearly against the host communities”.

President of Itsekiri Youths Leading Development, IYLED and former Assistant Secretary-General of National Association of Itsekiri Graduates, NAIG, Prince Oregbemi M. Onamoren-Beecroft, in a statement E-signed on behalf of the group, described the PIB as: “Satanic, unjust, embarrassing, fraudulent and most barbaric law ever to be phantom, to propose 3% and 5% of Operating Expenditure to the host communities PIB. It should be nothing less than 10% allocation”.

The statement dated Thursday July 8 and made available to Fresh Angle International, noted: “We will use all legal instruments within the rule of law, known to us to make sure we are treated with fairness, equity and justice, in respect of the just passed PIB by the National Assembly, NASS, which proposes 3% and 5% of Operating Expenditure granted to the Host Communities, if it is not reviewed.

“Itsekiri Nation, as the highest producer of crude oil and gas quantum in Delta State and the second largest producer in Nigeria, has continuously suffered from environmental degradation and most of our communities’ shorelines washed away. Our Communities, are at the mercy of Ocean surge, with all its fauna and flora gone, due to activities of crude oil exploration and exploitation for decades.

“In-spite of our huge contributions to the Nation’s GDP, there is no critical infrastructural project in the swampy oil and gas bearing Itsekiri communities of the Niger Delta, to show for it.

“We strongly frown at this Bill and we will not continue to stand aloof, while our land and resources are plundered to our detriment and to the huge interest and benefits of people who do not feel an inch of the brunt of direct negative impact of oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities, which is carried out in our ancestral homelands. We will not let this go unchallenged, until a proper recognition and allocation is given to our host communities”.

While urging the Federal Government as well as International Oil and Gas Companies, IOCs, to ensure that the Bill is revisited, if they genuinely desire development of host communities, especially in the Niger Delta”, IYLED: “Condemned the allocation of 30% of profits for further frontier oil exploration in the North, where the search for crude oil has been on for years, with huge allocation in yearly budget, yet with no find”. 

The pro-Itsekiri group, called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to decline assent to the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB as passed by the National Assembly, until it is find-tuned and amended by the Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives, so that the Host Communities will benefit more.

“We also frown at the definition of host communities and ambiguity of the term, ‘frontier basins’, in the PIB awaiting harmonization by a Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The host community definition by the Senate to include the communities that have ordinary pipelines passing through their backyard, is not just fraudulent, but lack academic comprehension and understanding. It does not reflect the long clamour by the stakeholders and people of the Niger Delta region for equity, fairness and justice, especially the Itsekiri Nation”, IYLED averred.

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