New Telegraph

PIB: Host communities want NDDC scrapped

The oil producing communities in Nigeria also known as host communities (HOSTCOM), yesterday, called on the Federal Government to scrap the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). They hinged their decision on corruption at the interventionist agency and its failure to live up to its statutory mandate.

 

The host communities made the call during the second day of a Public Hearing on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) 2020, organised by Senate’s joint Committee on Petroleum (Downstream, Upstream and Gas).

 

This was as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, challenged his kinsmen from oil host communities on their demand for 10 per cent equity shareholding from accruals from the various oil firms.

 

In an interview with journalists at the venue of the public hearing, the National President of the Oil Host Communities, Dr. Benjamin Style Tams, noted that all the intervention agencies established by the Federal Government for the development of oil host communities, had not made any reasonable impact in developing the host communities.

 

Tams noted that the worst of such intervention agencies was NDDC, which he described as cesspool of corruption, saying that this corruption by NDDC was recently displayed by its management and witnessed by Nigerians.

 

He said: “What government supposed to add to the new PIB is scrapping of  NDDC and establishment of Oil Host Communities Commission, which will, in practical terms, be very responsive to the developmental needs of the various host communities.”

 

He reiterated that the 2.5 per cent proposed in the new PIB for the host communities was unacceptable to them, stressing that what the oil producers wanted as their equity shareholding was 10 per cent.

 

“What we want is 10 per cent equity remittance from the various oil firms to respective host communities as proposed in the PIB considered and passed in the 7th National Assembly, which was not assented to.

 

“It is even very annoying that having reduced the 10 per cent to five per cent in the last bill considered by the 8th National Assembly, it is further slashed to 2.5 per cent in the current bill.

 

“This is not acceptable to us as host communities of the oil producing firms. The 10 per cent earlier proposed must be worked upon if the bill is to be acceptable to the various communities bearing the brunt,” he stated.

 

However, reacting to the submission in another interview, Sylva said that the 2.5 per cent that was proposed in the bill was fair.

 

His words: “I speak advisably as a member of the host community myself. If you have to look at it properly, you will see that 10 per cent of profit is different from 10 per cent of the operation cost from the various oil firms.

 

“Before now, you had the provision of 10 per cent of profit and profit means that if I don’t declare it, you don’t have anything. I can decide to say 100 per cent of profit and not declare any profit, so you don’t get anything.

 

“But in this case, it’s 2.5 per cent of the OPEX. So, at the end of the year, you look at your operating cost and take 2.5 per cent of that cost to the budget of the next year. “As far as we are con-  cerned, we have made a very fair proposal – fair to the host communities, to the country and to the oil companies.”

 

In his closing remarks, the Chairman of the joint Committee, Senator Mohamned Sabo Nakudu (APC, Jigawa South-West), said that all the views and submissions made by the various stakeholders would be harmonized.

 

He stated that the committee would visit the oil communities for more inputs into the bill before it would be passed, so that their demands would be considered, with a view to making possible adjustments on the contested provisions.

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