PIB: Another palliative to set host communities against themselves
INTRODUCTION
I am delighted to see members of the National Assembly visiting parts of the country to take a close look at issues and interact with the people on the way forward. This is the same process we under took during our time and with some of you who are still members of the Assembly.
These visits are very useful for members to know the country and offer correct solutions to problems as they see them. It was on this basis that the National Assembly during our time had to over ride the President’s veto and passed the Act which established the NDDC. We used to disagree occasionally with the Executive to get things going as Nigerians. Regrettably, some of the solutions we proffered did not touch the fundamental issues in the administration of the Petroleum Industry. That is why this joint Committee on Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is still faced with the same malady which has perplexed the Petroleum Industry ever since.
REVIEW OF THE PROPERTY AND OWNERSHIP OF PETROLEUM IN NIGERIA
The first and introductory sentence to the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) says: “The property and ownership of petroleum within Nigeria and its territorial waters, continental shelf and exclusive economic zone is vested in the Government of the Federation of Nigeria.”
There is no problem with this as the intention was to spread the wealth and benefits of exploitation of Petroleum Resources to all parts of Nigeria. This provision came into being at the peak of the Civil War to pull resources for the successful prosecution of the war and probably as a stop-gap measure. By the end of the Civil War, successive military governments transferred “the property and ownership of petroleum” from the oil producing and related communities and bestow edit, almost exclusively, on people from non-oil producing areas of the country and a few foreign-owned Companies through allocation of oil blocks.
Those persons invited foreign technical partners with financial resources to exploit the petroleum and cart away all the benefits to themselves without any
consideration for the host communities and virtually a pittance to the Federal Government.
Consequently, with the long years of “bestowed” and unbridled ownership, exploitation, management and accumulation of wealth from petroleum, the non-resident owners have been misled into believing, though mischievously, that they are indeed the sole owners of petroleum. This erroneous and mischievous belief is what has led them to proclaim that the petroleum oil deposits in Southern Nigeria is derived from the North and indeed belongs to the North. The composition of this Joint Committee of the PIB, with Senate Chairman from the North and House
of Representative Chairman from North, further goes to accentuate this obnoxious
and mischievous notion.
Since this statement was made, no Federal agency has come out to correct it. It is there fore taken as a Federal Government’s position. This is the fundamental distortion in the Petroleum Industry which the PIB should first address to bring everybody in line for a smooth and peaceful functioning of the industry.
The way out is to review the allocation of petroleum blocks and ensure no such disparity ever occurs again in the industry.
IMPLICATIONS OF RIDICULOUS TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP
The ridiculous transfer of ownership to non-resident owners resulted in
1. Keeping their offices in their home or any already developed parts of the country.
2. All operational decisions being taken away from the area of operations in favour of people nearest to the offices.
3. Massive unemployment in the area of operation.
4. Developing industry skills and expertise of people nearest to them to come and work in the oil fields, etc.
When the oil producing Communities realized the unfair treatment resulting from environmental degradation, pollution, oil spills, gas flaring, lack of accommodation of community interest or participation in the industry, massive unemployment, etc.
Agitation started. Those agitations led to several attempts to pacify them through palliative measures 4% derivation, establishment of OMPADEC 1% derivation,13% derivation, Establishment of the NDDC, Amnesty Programme. All these palliative measures have never involved the participation, control and management of the petroleum resources by the people of the Niger Delta region. That is why they have always failed. The PIB presently under discussion is another palliative to set the host communities against each other for a share of 2.5% while the status quoof the impoverished continues.
DEFINITION OF HOST COMMUNITY
The PIB does not define who the host community is. Is it the Village, the Clan, the Local Government Area, the State or whatever? Failure to specify who the host community is will create further confusion and hamper the implementation of the PIB as it concerns the provisions for the host community.
However, it is not the duty of the National Assembly to determine who the host community is as they are clearly spelt out by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) based on parameters enunciated by them the.
PIB, HOST COMMUNITY AND DEVELOPMENT
The PIB has again concerned itself with “development” of host community without their participation in the exploitation and management of the resources.
Transplanting controlled development from the administrative headquarters of the oil companies to the area of production does not ever yield full dividends. The handling charges, administrative cost and other interferences have always led to ineffective application of resources.
The oil Companies should live with the Community, incorporate them in their activities, utilize their human resources in a manner that will lead to self-sustained growth. Development of Host Communities
can come easy when the companies live in the area, appreciate their conditions, grow and develop along with the Communities.
This will lead to self-sustained development. This practice of distancing the Oil Company owners and their workers from the Community is akin to Colonial Master and Colony relationship.
It has never
led to the development of the colonies. The host communities host the petroleum resources exploration and exploitation.
They host the environmental degradation and deprivations. They host the gas flare
while all the revenue, gas flaring penalties and other accruals are paid to the Federation Account to be shared to all Nigerians. Gas is flared only in the area of production. Penalty is collected and paid to Federation account to be shared to all–what an absurd arrangement.
13% derivation to the oil producing communities, as
well as the palliative sadded, can never replace the full participation of the communities in the Petroleum Industry.
BEING THE POSITION OF AN ELDER STATESMAN, RT.HON.(CHIEF) NDUESE ESSIEN ON THE VISIT OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ON THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY BILL (PIB) TO AKWA IBOM STATE
Chief Nduese Essien , is the political leader of Eket Senatorial District
