By Shola O’Neil, Port Harcourt and Elo Edremoda, Warri

The Itsekiri Youths Leading Development (IYLED) has faulted the National Assembly’s interpretation of host communities in the recently passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

The group’s president, Prince Oregbemi Onamoren-Beecroft, in a statement, warned that the PIB should be amended to avert a looming crisis in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

He appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to decline its assent, demanding that the bill should be reviewed and amended by the Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives, in such a way that the Host Communities benefits nothing less than 10% of operating cost.

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He frowned at the definition of host communities and ambiguity of the term, ‘frontier basins’, in the PIB, stating that “the host community definition by the Senate to include the communities that have ordinary pipelines passing through their backyard is not just fraudulent, but lack academic comprehension and understanding and does not reflect the long clamour by the stakeholders and people of the Niger Delta the region for equity, fairness and justice especially for the Itsekiri nation.”.

Onamoren-Beecroft, a former assistant secretary-general of the National Association of Itsekiri Graduates (NAIG), emphasised that the Itsekiri nation will not stand and watch the perceived injustice and fraud meted to host communities in the PIB.

He disclosed that the Itsekiri people will employ all legal instruments known to them “to make sure we are treated with fairness, equity and justice.”

The passed bill granted 3% of Operating Expenditure to oil producing areas. While the House of Senate proposed 3%, the House of Representatives proposed 5%.

“Thus, we strongly frown at this bill, and we will not continue to stand aloof, while our land and resources are plundered to our detriment, and to the huge interest and benefits of others far away who do not feel an inch of the brunt of direct negative impact of oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities being carried out in our homelands. We will not let this go unchallenged until a proper recognition and allocation is given to our host communities,” he stated.