HOSCOM, PANDEF, INC, PDP protest PIB Act

Niger Delta groups, including the Host Communities Producing Oil and Gas (HOSCOM) and the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) yesterday kicked against the signing of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

They described the presidential assent as “insensitive,” “abominable”, “unfortunate”, “unbelievable”, “repugnant” and a clear case of the arrogance/contempt with which issues affecting the Niger Delta are treated by the Buhari administration.

The other groups that kicked against the new oil industry law are the Ijaw National Congress (INC), the Movement for the Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND), Ikwere People Congress (IPC) Worldwide, Itsekiri Liberation Group (ILG), Forum for Ethnic Nationalities of Niger Delta (FENND) and the Coalition of Rivers Oil and Gas Host Communities (CROGHCOM).

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was on the same page with the Niger Delta groups. It described the Act as repugnant and anti-people.

The National Assembly passed the PIB in July 2021 with some contentious provisions, such as three per cent provision for the development of oil-bearing communities and 30 per cent of NNPC profit for Frontier Oil Exploration Fund.

Despite the protests, Buhari, who had earlier promised to assent to the bill once it is sent to him, made good his promise yesterday.

Special Adviser to Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, who announced the presidential assent via a statement, added that the the ceremonial part of the new legislation would hold tomorrow.

Part of the statement reads: “Working from home in five days of quarantine as required by the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 after returning from London on Friday, August 13, the president assented to the Bill on Monday, August 16, in his determination to fulfil his Constitutional duty.

“The ceremonial part of the new legislation will be done on Wednesday, after the days of mandatory isolation would have been fulfilled.”

The Petroleum industry Act provides a legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, the development of host communities and related matters.

But PANDEF said it was unfortunate that Buhari ignored the overwhelming outcries over fundamental flaws in the bill to sign it.

The forum vowed to explore all legal means to ensure that Niger Delta people get a better deal from the new law.

PANDEF’s National Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson, said: “This PIB falls way short of the expectations of the Oil and Gas

Producing Communities that bear the brunt of unconscionable industry operations.

“This assent by President Buhari simply speaks to the repugnant attitude of disregard, propelled by arrogance, disdain and contempt with which issues concerning the Niger Delta are treated, particularly, by this present administration.

“What this act signifies is an unequivocal message to the Niger Delta people that how they feel and what they say, do not count, at all, in the schemes of the Nigerian project.

“That’s insensitive, abominable and afar every boundary of proper democratic practice and therefore, unacceptable to the good

people of the Niger Delta, the critical economic nexus of the entire Nigerian territory.

“The Niger Delta people will speak, shortly, after full consultations, on this callous act, on the best legal and political response”.

HOSTCOM President Chief Tamarakeni Styles, described the assent as an “ambush on the people of the region and an attempt to take away the wealth of the region”.

Styles said by assenting to the PIB, the participatory rights of host communities had been breached. He said host communities would challenge the government’s decision.

The HOSTCOM boss added that the group would engage in wider consultations within the region on the next course of action, saying they stood by their demand for 10 per cent equity.

President of the INC, Prof Benjamin Okaba, said the next action of the Ijaw would be determined after wide consultations with critical stakeholders in the region.

He added: “The position of INC remains as we stated earlier. We believe in resource justice which is 100 per cent control of our resources. We thought 10 per cent was reasonable but three per cent remains unacceptable to us.

“But as to what the Ijaw will do or say further will depend on a product of wide level consultations and the consultations have started. We are going to consult with stakeholders vertically and horizontally and come up with a firm position as a people.

Meanwhile, we reject in its totality the three per cent as assented to by the President.”

National president, MOSIEND, Kennedy Tonjo-West, expressed fear of an inevitable crisis in the Niger Delta because of the development.

Tonjo-West said: “The President assenting to the bill without shifting grounds, without upscaling the three per cent did not come to us as a surprise because we knew from the outset that it was an orchestrated arrangement.

“We are talking about how the Federal Government could constitute the board of Niger Delta Development Commission which has been there for two years. Various militant groups, governors and stakeholders have

all warned the government on that.

“The government didn’t see it necessary knowing full well that non-Constitution of the board alone could cause crisis in the region.

As if that is not enough, he hurriedly signed the PIB, dashing the hopes of all the stakeholders in the oil-bearing communities, in the National Assembly waiting on Mr President to give them succour by increasing it.

“He did not even listen to the voice of reason. It is a rude shock to the people of the region not to MOSIEND because we knew it was going to end that way.

The Chairman IPC Worldwide, Livingstone Wechie, described the assent “on the controversial, highly unpopular and disputed PIB as one of the most grievous assaults on the indigenous people and ethnic nationalities of the Niger Delta.

Wechie said: “IPC views this enactment as a corrosive attack on the interest of the Niger Delta as it affects the notorious PIB which had been seriously questioned particularly in the face of our demand for resource ownership rights.

“IPC worries that the new law is in furtherance to the asset-stripping by the Nigerian state which must devastate the Niger Delta, particularly the Oil Producing Communities at all costs.

“We fear that this unholy law may wake up a new avoidable season of unrest in the region.

Also, the ILG expressed “shock” over the development, accusing the President of not “listening to the cry of the people who bear the brunt” of oil exploration.

Its Chairman, Mone Oris, said: “As a people, we complained that the three per cent is too small. As a father, he ought to have looked into the cry of the people.

“Yes, we appreciate the timely efforts of signing the bill into law, but he would have considered the cry of the people by increasing the percentage, which he did not. He undermined the people,

especially the Itsekiri nation.

“We are not pleased with the action of the President. It shows that the President does not listen to the people he is leading and this can cause more devastating harm to the region.

“People who are not pleased with this may decide to go into hostilities, protests, which is not good for exploration. We, Itsekiri nation, ILG will meet and the next line of action would be made public”.

FENND described the assent as “absolutely unacceptable” and vowed to take push-back actions.

Its convener, Dotimi Kester, said the new law is a palliative that is injurious to the people of the region.

He said: “The PIB assented to by Mr President is derogatory. FENND will take push back actions. We are going on an advocacy campaign to host communities to make them understand the implication of the law.”

Rivers State Chairman of CROGHCOM, Barituka Loanyie, decried Buhari’s failure to heed the appeals for upward adjustment of the HOSCOM development fund.

He accused the National Assembly members of occupying their seats to carry out only the biddings of the Executive.

Loanyie said: “We want to state very clearly that this PIB is just a rubber stamp of what the Executives wanted, that’s why it’s been hurriedly passed and signed.”

But the Niger Delta Rights Advocates (NDRA) described the new law as the first step to righting all the wrongs done against the oil-bearing communities in the over 60 years of oil exploitation and exploration in the region.

Its spokesperson, Darlington Nwuju said: “In as much as we find it questionable how host communities would bear the burden of securing oil facilities in their localities and the magic with which as the Act

so prescribes, host communities will have to bear the cost of oil leakages etc; the flipside remains the fact that all manner of production wastes, as well as the billions, lost to OICs who under-remit oil revenues shall be eliminated.”

PDP flays Buhari for signing the bill

In a statement by its spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP denounced the new law as offensive, repugnant and anti-people.

It added that the legislation further confirmed that Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have no respect for the people as well as the tenets of democracy.

The statement reads: “By his action, President Buhari has only authenticated that he is not a listening leader and that the APC and its leaders are only out to trample on the will of Nigerians for their selfish interests.

“In putting his hands to endorse the obnoxious bill, even with its distasteful, paltry and provocative 3 per cent revenue to oil-producing communities, President Buhari and the APC have again displayed disdain and insensitivity to the sufferings of the people of the Niger Delta.

“The PDP holds that such is the height of contempt to oil-producing communities, particularly in the face of the challenges which they face as a result of oil exploration”.

The party said the President ought to have returned the bill to the National Assembly with a request that it be made to address the demands of the oil-producing communities.”

The National Assembly leadership said that the new law will help Nigeria overcome its economic challenges.

It stated that the Act would open the floodgate of investments in the oil and gas sector.

House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and Senate Spokesman Surajudeen Basiru made these assertions yesterday.

Basiru said: “Efforts at reaching this stage has been a protracted affair as the Bill, first initiated in 2003 had been subjected to a ping-pong affair between the previous Legislatures and the Executives.

“The 9th National Assembly finally broke the jinx when it recently passed the Bill after working dispassionately by putting the interest of the nation first over petty squabbles and self-interests, thereby laying finally to rest previous failed attempts.”

Gbajabiamila said in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, said that Nigeria’s oil and gas industry will now receive a breath of fresh air and allow investments and transparency to flourish.

Gbajabiamila, who assured that the oil and gas industry would only fare better with the Act, called on investors to take full advantage of the opportunities that the new law provides.