Forum To Discuss Critical Issues Arising From Petroleum Industry Act Holds In Niger Delta

A Niger Delta Economic Discourse Series with its maiden edition to address critical issues arising from the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), will hold in April at the Bayelsa State capital, Yenagoa.

Expected at the event are state governors, ministers, oil companies and their chief executives, host communities management and the private sector, among others.

The summit has its theme: “Achieving sustainable development in a PIA driven economy,” and is expected to provide original researches, rare systematic reviews into recent policy planks and driving intervention strategies as they affect the Niger Delta.

Speaking on the summit, which holds from April 12 to 13th 2022, at the Banquet Hall, Bayelsa State Government House, Yenagoa, organisers of the event and Publisher, GbaramatuVoice Newspaper, Jacob Abai, said several other issues relating to the well-being of the Niger Delta in critical facets will top the discourse.

“The research question will provide answers to such other critical subject areas as Host Community Development Trust Fund whether it will be enough to address the issue of accountability by Oil and Gas Operators.

“It will look at whether the proposed ‘fund penalty’ to be borne by host communities for non-force majeure disruption of productions will be adequate to stimulate shared pact and responsibilities.

“It will further probe into the role of technology in the implementation of the PIA, and inquire into emerging opportunities that exist for MSMEs along the Value Chains.

“It will be concerned with offering clues to the related financing implications and opportunities for SMEs and further highlight the opportunities the  Petroleum Industry Act- PIA offer Niger Delta youths.

“The Discourse category will look at the problems and prospects of the PIA matrix and how it could impact on underlying existential mobility in inter-agency cooperation with host communities.

“It hopes to also look at critical social engineering constraints and citizens engagement index in the shared responsibilities,” he conjectured in a statement.

Abai, therefore, called for papers
encompassing diverse realms of research questions and “such an effort should combine miscellaneous statistical metrics with compact and analytical narrative, finely aligned with newest findings in the PIA ecosystem.”

According to him, all submitted papers to www.nigerdeltaeconomicseries.com should follow the “Times Roman font, APA format, two-line spacing parameters and not more than 10 pages, just as accepted papers will be published in the Discourse series manual and shared in national and international peer-review journals.”