Go to court, CSO urges N’Delta host communities over PIA

Policy Alert Nigeria (PAN), a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), working on economic and ecological justice, has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, urging communities to contest the provisions of the Act before the courts.

President Buhari had recently signed the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law amid protests from community groups and many other stakeholders that the bill was incompatible with the rights and interests of the host communities.

Speaking in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital, the Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Officer (CSEO) of the organisation, Mrs. Nneka Luke-Ndumere, in a statement made available to newsmen, described the presidential assent as ‘grossly insensitive and problematic.’

“It is sad that the bill has been assented to in the most controversial manner despite its many obvious flaws and its rejection by many stakeholders.

“For example, the controversial provision for a direct payment of 30 per cent profit oil and profit gas to the Frontier Exploration Fund potentially shortchanges the oil-producing states and local government areas of some of its 13 per cent derivation as it bypasses the requirement in section 162 (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which provides that all revenues be channeled through the federation account.

“This is most unfair, viewed against the ceding of only three per cent of previous years’ operating expenses to the Host Communities Development Trust Fund and the punitive provision to charge costs of any damage to facilities against the community’s fund, among other obnoxious provisions,” the group submitted.

“That President Buhari has gone ahead to give assent to these vexing provisions only reinforces the politics of exclusion and expropriation that has for long characterised the relationship between the Nigerian state and the oil-producing communities.

“We are also concerned that the host communities’ component of the legislation flies in the face of one of its stated objectives to address tensions between host communities and companies as it has all the ingredients for escalating rather than abating such conflicts.

“At a time when fossil fuel investments are being deprioritised elsewhere as a result of the global energy transition, it is unfortunate that this Act failed to provide a bridge between the current era of fossil fuel dependency and the low-carbon energy future that Nigeria aspires to within the framework of government’s much vaunted commitments under

“Granted, the new legal framework introduces some predictability and clarity to the governance and fiscal arrangements in the oil and gas industry.

“We are also not oblivious to certain clauses that respond to some of our earlier demands, such as those providing that the Board of Trustees of the Host Communities Development Trust will now be determined in consultation with.

“As a tool for improved benefit sharing to host communities, the Act falls flat on its face. It actually ridicules the exertions of the host communities and advocacy groups that have clamoured over the years for a law that yields some space for participation, direct socio-economic benefits and environmental remediation for oil-rich communities.

“The theatre of action will now have to move to the communities and the courts of law. As implementation of the Act gets underway over the next 12 months, we urge host communities and civil society groups to begin to seek interpretation of some of its more controversial provisions before the courts,” the statement read.

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