An Ijaw leader and National Coordinator of the Center for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), Comrade Sheriff Mulade, has lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for assenting the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law.
He, however, called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to establish and inaugurate the Host Community Trust Fund (HCTF) as provided for by the Petroleum Industry Law (PIA) to manage the Petroleum Industry Fund in addressing the environmental and infrastructural issues affecting the oil and gas producing host communities in Nigeria.
Chief Mulade, who’s the Ibe-Serimowei of the Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, made the call in Warri, on Monday, while fielding questions from journalists on Delta State at 30.
The environmental activist condemned the idea whereby the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs or governors of oil and gas producing states control and manage the three per cent allocation provided for in the PIA, based on the oil and gas resources derived from, and the degradation effects of oil activities in the host communities.
He said if the minister or state governors were allowed to control the 3 per cent fund, it might be mismanaged the same way the 13 per cent derivation fund allocated to oil and gas producing states for the development of oil and gas host communities is being misappropriated.
Chief Mulade then emphasised that the 13 per cent oil derivation fund and the PIA fund are meant to address the environmental, ecological and infrastructural development issues of oil and gas communities.
According to him, the 3 per cent PIA fund should be managed by the Host Communities Trust Fund (HCTF) as stipulated by Section 2 of the PIA.
Mulade, who appreciated President Buhari, the National Assembly and other stakeholders who ensured the passage of the PIB, charged the PIA Implementation Committee headed by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylver, to expedite action on the development and positive growth of oil and gas host communities, which are the backbone or live-wire of the Nigerian economy.
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