Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas (HostCom), has challenged the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), to publish the list of defaulting oil and gas companies that have not complied with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), on host communities trust fund.
National President, Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas (HostCom), Benjamin Style Tamaranebi, said 84 communities have complied with the Act and established their respective Host Community Development Trust (HCDTs) as prescribed by the PIA.
According to him, there are fewer communities to do the same but the funds should be activated to benefit the large number of communities that have complied with the PIA for their communal development.
Tamaranebi at a press briefing in Abuja said “unfortunately, two years after the passage of the PIA Act in August 2021, the respective HCDTs have not been funded from the 3% Operation Expenditure (OPEX) to implement development initiatives in the respective communities.”
According to him, the situation has further compounded the challenges faced by the various oil producing host communities as human lives and the environment has not been better for their delay to activate the trust funds initiated by the PIA to develop the communities, especially those who have had oil spills since the Act.
Tamaranebi said HostCom would not hesitate to demand that the NUPRC and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) revoke the licenses of the various oil companies threatening the lives and properties of the host communities.
He said with the coming into effect of the Act in August, all other earlier agreements and MOU were outdated as a consequence of the activation of the PIA. So, the community lost whatever benefit was due to come from these agreements. More painfully is the fact that it has not benefited from the 3% OPEX.
His words: “We call on all meaningful stakeholders to join hands with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to facilitate the speedy implementation of the 3% OPEX which is overdue by the settlors.
“And to those settlors who have refused to effectively set-up the Host Communities Development Board of Trustees to immediately do so.
“To allow the Communities to start enjoying their benefits of sustainable development and participatory rights as contained in section 234 of the PIA 2021.
“In fact, we call on the NUPRC to List out all the settlors who have refused to comply with the PIA 2021.
“Else we will have no choice than to escalate the issue of noncompliance to section 234 of the PIA 2021.
Tribune Online can report that section 234 of the PIA reads: “The objectives of this Chapter are to foster sustainable prosperity within host communities ; provide direct social and economic benefits from petroleum operations to host communities.
“Enhance peaceful and harmonious co-existence between licensees or lessees and host communities and create a framework to support the development of host communities.
“The Commission and Authority may make regulations with respect to this Chapter on areas within their competence and jurisdiction as specified in this Act.”
Tamaranebi also said HostCom will also escalate “the Host Communities Development Regulation No 114 of 2022 to the President who is the Federal Minister of Petroleum Resources for the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to invoke the revocation of their licenses for violating the extant regulatory Laws of Nigeria and protocols of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) greenhouse gas (ghg).
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