Stakeholders in Niger Delta have cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari against signing the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), alleging that it seeks to privatise the country’s oil and gas assets and to further impoverish the people of the region.

They warned that any attempt to privatise the oil and gas assets in the Niger Delta under the guise of the PIGB would reignite the clamour for resource control. Spokesman of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Anabs Sara-Igbe, said the only oil reform bill that would be acceptable to the people of the Niger Delta was the original Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which had earmarked 10 percent equitable share for the oil producing communities.

He stated that any attempt to repeal the 13 percent derivation which is constitutional, would reignite the clamour for complete ownership of all oil and gas resources by the host communities of the Niger Delta. The stakeholders warned against plans to repeal the Niger Delta Development Commission Act and abolition of the presidential amnesty programme.

The former NNPC chief explained that PIGB, if signed into law, would drastically reduce the revenue accruable to the Federal Government, states, particularly, the oil-producing ones.

President of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Eric Omare, urged the proponents of the abolition of the NDDC Act to bear in mind that it is a special law aimed at tackling development challenges of the Niger Delta.

• Excerpted from Guardian

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