ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS GROUP REJECTS PIB 3% DERIVATION

   By DADA AYOKHAI

Nigeria’s foremost environmental rights group, the Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/ FoEN), yesterday rejected the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as passed by the National Assembly and called on both chambers of the National Assembly to immediately harmonize and produce an environmentally friendly and peoples oriented bill.

The Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo In a press statement he signed and made available to newsmen in Benin City, Edo State said, the National Assembly failed to do justice to the bill which has been pending since 2008.

Dr. Uyi Ojo, queried “why would the members of the National Assembly approve a paltry three percent for the host communities in the Host Communities Trust Fund, saying it’s way below the bar and constitutes an affront to the suffering rural communities.”

Also, ERA/FoEN wants the law to make provision for allocation of the 30 percent frontier oil exploration to be invested in renewable energy development such as solar, to provide improved energy access to the citizens given the deplorable state of the national grid.

 

While noting that the three percent allocation for host communities is insufficient due to the ecological dislocation of the region which has culminated in the appalling level of pollution of their agricultural land, fisheries, and drinking water, thus exposing thousands of people to serious health risks, Dr. Uyi Ojo called for the allocation of at least 10% to the host communities considering the level of environmental degradation of oil-bearing communities as a result of oil exploration.

“The UNEP report estimated that it would take up to 30 years and an initial US$1 billion to clean up Ogoniland. We, therefore, insist that 10 percent should be considered by the National Assembly as the minimum for the host communities owing to the level of degradation they already suffered following the years of neglect by the oil companies and government.”

Ojo cautioned the federal government on the dependence on crude oil as other nations are already considering a shift from dirty energy to cleaner sources of energy like renewable energy sources.

 

“The clause about the communities paying for acts of vandalism and civil unrest should be removed from the host community development fund because this criminalizes the people from the outset.”

Ojo urged the National Assembly to ensure there are provisions in the law that will not allow the multinational oil companies to take undue advantage of Nigeria and Nigerians but rather follow international best practices in dealing with the host communities where their facilities are located.

Recall that the Petroleum Industry Bill is a law that seeks to introduce far-reaching reforms in the Nigerian oil and gas industry which the previous administrations failed to pass into law due to lack of political will, vested interests from different stakeholders as well as sectional interests.

He urged the Federal Government to consider the PIB as one of its efforts to address the many problems of unsustainable environmental practices which have taken their toll through environmental degradation and destruction of livelihoods in the Niger Delta region for several decades.

He further disclosed that the host communities in the region have faced serious neglect, marginalization, and deprivation for too long even though the region produces the oil which generates revenue for the nation.