By OSARETIN OSADEBAMWEN, Abuja

The decision of the National Assembly to work on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) before June must be thorough to reflect the aspiration of oil-producing host communities.

Leaders of both chambers President of the Senate, Senator, Ahmed Lawan and Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila have at separate times during plenary commented on presenting the bill for presidential assent by June.

National President of HOSTCOM, High Chief (Dr) Benjamin Style Tamanarebi said the 10% equity comprising of 6 per cent oil producing company and 4 per cent from the government for Host Communities remained non-negotiable.

He said every indication points to the fact that the government is not interested in the passage of the bill because of the lack of sincerity.

In a statement issued at the weekend, Tamanarebi said that the executives summary and outcome of the joint PIB of the National Assembly town hall meeting attended by the government of the state and their stakeholders in the first week of March 2021 calmed the nerves of the Niger Delta Agitators who are members of Host Communities.

He maintained that the meeting addressed the 10 per cent equity they needed to address the monumental degradation of the area.

He, therefore, warned that it is in the best interest of all stakeholders that the Federal Government stop treating the Niger Delta interest with kids gloves as it may boomerang.

In the executive summary that was jointly signed by the National President and chairmen of the nine state chapters of the HOSTCOM, they listed the grey areas in the bill that must be expunged or amended.

They, therefore, reiterated their position to stand by the On-shore Host Communities so defined as host and directly impacted C=communities 50km radius of the project site which includes pipelines.

They want a mechanism to be set up for the obtaining of approvals by the Minister in matters that affect Federation account to include the Producing States and Host Communities as in chapter 1, part 1 which deals with Vesting of Petroleum, ownership as major stakeholders.

They want Part 111. Sections 3,4,5, which said, the Commission shall not undertake both Commercial and regulatory activities at the same time and should not temper with federation account funds such as the proposed 10% of rents on petroleum licences and petroleum mining leases which are usually in dollars to be expunged.

They demanded that the Governing Board be expanded to accommodate each of the Producing States and HostCom representatives.

“The Governing Board of the Authority should also be expanded to accommodate each of the Producing States and HostCom representatives.”

Section 47, which deals with the Funding of the Authority: they want the proposed 1% to be expunged since the National Assembly appropriates funds to the Authority on a first-line charge in addition to four other sources of funds.

They also want the Midstream Gas Infrastructure Fund contained in Section 52 to be expunged and the Location of the Headquarters (HQ) of the Authority to be in the major Petroleum Producing States.

Part V, section 53, subsection (1) which says the Minister shall within three months at the commencement of the Act incorporate the limited liability company, they want ownership of all NNPC Limited share to be vested in the Government of the federation at incorporation and held by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, HOSTCOM and the Governments of the petroleum Producing States of Oil and Gas for and on behalf of the people as in Section 53, subsection 3.

Subsection 6 & 7, which states that NNPC Limited and any of its subsidiaries shall conduct their affairs on a commercial basis without recourse to government funds and their memorandum and articles of association shall state these restrictions in the Bill.

On section 54, which deals with the Transfer of Assets and Liabilities: “Let it be made clear that NNPC must remain a Government National Company and any sale of shares must be with the approval of the Federal Government, the Petroleum Producing States/HostCom and the National Assembly.

The assets NNPC controls belong to the Federation, not the Federal Government alone.

“Assets, interests and liabilities of NNPC not transferable to NNPC Limited or its subsidiary under subsection (1) of this section, shall remain the assets, interests and liabilities of NNPC until they become extinguished or transferred to the Government.

“The Petroleum Producing States must be given rights to first refusal to acquire the shares since most of the assets NNPC Ltd manages are derived from Petroleum which is produced from the Petroleum producing State. These and more changes are desired by the HOSTCOM to enable the stakeholders to consider the opinion of the National Assembly genuine.” (Nigerian Tribune)

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