…Rejects Proposed 3% Share Of Oil Revenue For Host Communities
The Southern Governors’ Forum, SGF, has has lent it’s voice in support of the rejection of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, by the ljaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark.
The 17 governors of the Southern states, in a communique issued after their meeting in Lagos, and signed by its chairman, the governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu have distanced themselves from the 30 per cent allocated in the bill for oil exploration in the Northern part of the country through the frontier basins.
The bill, which is awaiting harmonization by the two chambers of the National Assembly, proposed that 30 per cent from the profit generated by the proposed Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited will be allocated for exploration in the frontier basins in the North.
The bill also proposed three and five per cent of the profit made by the oil companies for host communities as approved by the Senate and House of Representatives respectively.
The governors said, “The Forum rejects the proposed 3 per cent and support the 5 per cent share of the oil revenue to the host communities as recommended by the House of Representatives.
“The forum also rejects the proposed 30 per cent share of profit for the exploration of oil and gas in the basins.”
Recall that Clark had also said that the National Assembly had dashed the hope of the people of the Niger Delta.
He had said, “The provision that allocated a huge 30 per cent of profits for further frontier oil exploration in the North was a source of concern, especially in a fast changing world of investment shifts away from fossil oil.”
The Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, leader described the allocation as a satanic, unjust, and embarrassing piece of legislation.
The “Frontier Basins” is contained in Section 9 of the recently passed PIB, which will regulate the oil sector in the country if eventually signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The passed PIB identified “Frontier Basins to include Chad Basin, Gongola Basin, Sokoto Basin, Dahomey Basin, Bida Basin and Benue Trough in the Northern part of the country.
In attendance at the SGF meeting were the governors of Ondo, Delta, Rivers, Lagos, Ekiti, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Abia, Cross River states, among others while four states were represented by Deputy Governors.
Commending the National Assembly for mustering enough courage to pass the bill, which had been stalled in the legislature for more than 12 years, the SGF added, “The forum rejects the ownership structure of the proposed Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited.
“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, since all tiers of government have stakes in that vehicle.”
