Wike advocates 10 per cent to host communities in petroleum bill

By Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike yesterday urged the National Assembly to allocate at least 10 per cent of the oil revenue to host communities in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

He said the bill should specify the developmental projects that the allocated fund should be spent on.

Bayelsa State Governor Duoye Diri had earlier said the 2.5 per cent provided in the Bill for host communities was too small.

“In our proposal to you, we asked for 10 per cent for the host communities,” he said when he met with members of the National Assembly.

Wike, who spoke when the members of the National Assembly Committee on the PIB visited him at Government House, Port Harcourt, said that oil-bearing communities suffer huge losses.

He said the loss of livelihood, lack of access to potable water were due to the insensitivity of the international oil companies (IOCs).

He said: “It is unfortunate that people produce oil but they live in poverty. There are issues of education and health. Don’t just say 10 per cent to the oil host communities.

“It must be tied to specific projects so that whoever is in charge will know it, so that he or she does not have the prerogative to initiate, like during Christmas, to buy and give 20,000 bags of rice and tag it as a project.

“Let it also not be that host community people will have this money, and you begin to see assassinations among themselves.

“I have found out that part of the problem we have in communities is that they allow these oil companies to divide them.

“They cause crisis among them; divide and rule. That is the pattern of IOCs, particularly Shell.”

The governor said the mistakes found with the Act establishing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) should be avoided because it did not specify what projects the commission should embark on in the Niger Delta.

He said: “This same thing that has happened to the NDDC should not happen to the issues of host communities in PIB.

“If in the NDDC act, they were able to tie the money that will be coming to specific projects, it would have developed the people of Niger Delta. And you won’t be having people fainting at the National Assembly.

“NDDC will leave their job and begin to buy vehicles for police, army, and asphalting barracks. Is it what NDDC is meant to do? That is where we have lost it.”

Wike emphasised the need for the bill when passed, to be signed and not go the way of the electoral bill that the president refused to  assent to

“I hope this bill will also not be like the Electoral Act, after you pass it,  they’ll keep it for months. Later they’ll say they can’t assent to it.

“Then the presidency will throw it back to you and you will keep quiet. That will then show that what you’re doing is only for the interest of your party and not the interest of Nigeria.

“Otherwise, you’ll insist that it is signed. I hope you’ll have the courage to do what is right and this is the time that Nigerians require you to be strong, firm and do what will move this country forward,” he said.

Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly Committee who led the delegation, Mr Victor Onyemaechi, said the committee was in the state to meet with stakeholders to resolve issues of what should be allocated to host communities in the PIB.

He said: “A lot of people have been misinformed about the issue of host communities.  Some have said that host communities are related to the hostility of the producing communities. But what they have seen today and in the last four days, have shown to be negative.

“It has proved negative in the sense that we walked for over 800 meters about three days ago and they saw that even in the dry season, we have to use wood as a bridge to get to where Shell is exploring and making all their money.

“They also saw the impact of Shell operation on people’s means of livelihood where their farmlands were burnt and palm trees were burnt to ashes. They can feel it and they can see it.”

“What we saw is that a community that is known for fishing has had their means of livelihood brought to a standstill. The boats, over 50, were lying idle because their water has been polluted.”