PIB: FG To Engage Host Communities After Buhari’s Approval

PIB: PANDEF Kicks As Buhari Signs Petroleum Bill
PIB: PANDEF Kicks As Buhari Signs Petroleum Bill

The Federal Government is planning to engage oil-producing host communities in the Niger Delta region to resolve lingering issues related to the 3 percent revenue allocated to them in the recently passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva disclosed this Thursday in Abuja during a meeting with a group of Ijaw elders, and other stakeholders on Thursday.

Sylva complained of instances where communities in the Bonny Island cannot access funds paid to them by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG), following court cases instituted by some individuals.

He said multinational oil firms have assured him of their commitment to relocate their operational headquarters to the Niger Delta.

The minister said, “We are planning, alongside the Minister of Information to hold town hall meetings in the host communities after the presidential assent to the PIB.

“We need to have more stakeholders engagement on the three per cent allocated to the communities. People need to know that it is from production costs and not from profit. The production cost is always higher than the profits.

“Today, I can tell you authoritatively that we are on the last mile of the oil economy. Economies around the world are now discussing renewable fuel.

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“We must understand that very soon we might wake up and find out that oil is not as valuable a commodity as we thought before.

“Coal did not finish before the world moved away from coal. There is still a lot of coal deposit in Enugu today but if you give some of it to someone, he might not appreciate it because the world has moved away from coal.

“Our main challenge is resource management. If we manage all the money coming to the Niger Delta, NDDC, 13 per cent derivation, three per cent host communities funds and even the one from the amnesty programme, we won’t have some of the issues currently confronting us,” he added.

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