Traditional rulers of oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta region have warned that the proposed Trust Fund designed for host communities under the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill 2020, should not be subject to protection of oil facilities.
The monarchs under the aegis of association of Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria (TROMPCON), maintained that the protection of oil facilities in host-communities remained and should be the responsibility of the Federal Government in its constitutional obligations to provide for the security and welfare of the people of the Niger Delta and Nigeria in general.
TROMPCON was formed about 30 years ago by the royal fathers from the Niger Delta states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers.
In a 10-point communique issued at the end of their meeting in Asaba and read by the new national chairman of TROMPCON, the Oridje of Okpe, Major-General Felix Majakperuo (retd) and the national secretary of the association, Eze l. O. Asor, said it believed in the unity of Nigeria and supported the resolutions by the Southern Governors in Asaba on the issues of devolution of power and banning of open grazing.
Majakperuo said the theme, “The relationship between the oil and gas producing communities and the international oil companies operating on Niger Delta area: What impact has It made on the people?’ was timely
Similarly, the conference called on the state and federal governments to deploy adequate security apparatus to protect the people of the Niger Delta and indeed, all Nigerians from the activities of violent herdsmen and unknown gunmen.
It equally expressed concern over the state of environmental degredation , unemployment and lack of social amenities in all the oil minerals host communities in the Niger Delta, just as it deprecated the state of its infrastructural development, particularly the state of roads, standard schools, healthcare system, including the East-West road.
It called for legal instruments to institutionalise the relationship between oil and gas prospecting companies and host-communities in the Niger Delta and also the restoration of a constitutional role for traditional rulers in the governance architecture of Nigeria
Earlier in his welcome address, the Delta State chairman of the association, the Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom, Emmanuel Sideso Abe I, said their broad objective is to galvanise the people of the Niger Delta states to benefit from their natural resources.
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