Governors of the southern states of Nigeria have kicked against the use of 30 percent share of profit from oil revenue for frontier exploration by the proposed Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC).
Some of the amendments in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that was passed by the National Assembly last week include 30 percent basin exploration fund as well as three percent of oil revenue as host community fund,
The 17 governors of the states issued a communiqué on Monday after their meeting in Lagos, rejecting the PIB section that allocates three percent of oil revenue as host community fund.
The governors in the communique signed by the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, who is the Chairman of the forum, however, recommended five per cent of oil revenue as host community fund.
The governors said, “The Forum rejects the proposed 3% and support the 5% share of the oil revenue to the host community as recommended by the House of Representatives;
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“The forum also rejects the proposed 30% share of profit for the exploration of oil and gas in the basins,” it stated.
“The forum rejects the ownership structure of the proposed Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC).
“The Forum disagrees that the company be vested in the Federal Ministry of Finance but should be held in trust by Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) since all tiers of Government have stakes in that vehicle,” the communiqué read in part.
