A pan-Ndokwa Socio-political pressure group, the Organised Ndokwa Effort (ONE), has rejected the three per cent allocated to oil and gas bearing communities in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
It said the Ndokwa nation will not accept anything less than 10 per cent.
The group noted that the host communities are the ones bearing the brunt of oil exploration directly and that compensation should be commensurate with the adverse effects.
ONE’s position is contained in a communique signed by its Chairman Okei Ossai Udom and Coordinator Rodney Odibe Odili-Obi, issued at the end of a meeting of the leadership and members, including critical stakeholders in the Ndokwa project, at the Ndokwa House, Abuja.
The group said the PIB as passed s unsatisfactory, adding that the future of Nigeria’s economy depends on the enormous natural gas resource production across the Ndokwa land.
According to the group, with 10 trillion cubic feet, Ndokwa land has the single largest deposit of natural gas concentrate in the entire West African sub-region.
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ONE said the people of Ndokwa land are suffering the hazards of the operations of international oil companies dating back to 1965.
“For the avoidance of doubts, we state unequivocally without fear or trepidation our stand against the recommendation of PIB paltry three per cent to the host communities because it is grossly insufficient to attenuate the sufferings of our people and compensate the damage to our environment.
“We demand nothing less than 10 per cent and thus call on the National Assembly to retract and revise the rate from three per cent to 10 per cent.
“The oil-producing communities trust fund, therefore, is justified for a share of profit or production to ameliorate the hardship imposed on the dwellers around the oil wells and production facilities.
“We are also opposed to dedicating a whopping 30 per cent from NNPC operation to explore for oil and gas at all cost in the Northern basins.”
The group called on President Muhammadu Buhari to consider Ndokwa nation in the constitution of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) board, in the appointment of ministers, heads of parastatals and agencies to give the Ndokwa man a sense of belonging and to awake his national solidarity.
“The marginalisation of Ndokwa nation must stop,” ONE said.
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