Members of the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Monday made a case for the International Oil Companies (IOCs) payment of the outstanding N2.3trillion gas flaring penalty funds to host communities in the Niger Delta region.
They also pushed for the payment of about N1trillion gas flaring penalty fund that the multi-nationals have already paid which remained hitherto trapped in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The National Coordinator, Center for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), Comrade Sheriff Mulade and Faith Nwadishi of the Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group, made this known in Abuja during the media briefing on security and environmental challenges in the Niger Delta and Nigeria.
Mulade said that CEPEJ has packaged a conference for 7th and 8th November, 2017 in Benin-City, Edo State to examine the rising tide in environmental degradation, and avoidable perpetuation of poverty in the Niger Delta through the oil companies activities, persistent gas flaring, loss of adequate life and agitations in the region and Nigeria.
He also noted that despite the federal government’s flag-off of the Ogoni clean up several months ago, it has remained a mere political promise.
He appealed to the government that for it to sustain the existing peace in the region, the Ogoni axis of Rivers State, it should expedite action on environmental remediation and the clean-up it promised.
According to him, this will bring about sustenance of peace and development in the region; also reduce tension and further crisis in the area.
On the gas flaring penalty fund, Mulade said that: “We are aware that there is a penalty paid by these multi-nationals. We are also aware of the three percent being paid to NDDC by the IOCs to develop the Niger Delta.”
He said although the CSOs are already urging the federal government to pay the fund, it is against the channelization of the funds through any commission.
Mulade asked the government to pay the money directly to the communities instead of using any commission as an intermediary that may divert the fund to compensate political allies.
His words: “So those funds, we are aware and as a civil society we are also putting machinery in place see how we can tackle government towards those funds so that the funds can be released to communities directly, not through a commission. This is because all the commissions are political commissions to compensate their political friends.”
Speaking, Nwadishi expressed surprise that Nigerians were only talking about payment of N1 trillion gas flare penalty stalled in the apex bank whereas the IOCs still have an outstanding N2.3 trillion gas flaring penalty to pay to the communities.
According to her, Nigeria has not been sincere in the implementation of its gas flaring policy and has resorted to shifting the gas flare end date and rate because the World Bank has set a date for exit from gas flare.
She described gas flaring as a negation of the law because a court sitting in Benin- City, has already declared gas flaring as illegal.
Nwadishi said that: “At the end of the day, we as a country, we are not sincere about our gas flaring policy. Over the years, we have shifted the goal post. Today, we say we want to end, tomorrow; we want to end gas flaring.
“Now there is a new date 2020 initiative to end gas flaring in Nigeria because of the World Bank initiative that says reduces gas flaring by 2030. For three years we change our goal post.
“You know that there was a judgment in Nigeria that gave judgement to a community that says gas flaring is illegal. Gas flaring is supposed to be illegal because a judgment in Benin had already said that gas flaring was illegal. Meanwhile, we still continue to flare gas.
“We have over N2.3 trillion is yet to be paid. And because of the money that was paid. You know the government economic recovery plan. Now you know that part of the seven big win plans is to use gas to generate energy. But we don’t have a clear plan on how that is going to be.
If you read the government recovery growth plan it is just about using gas. You have not gone to this budget to say how much of this gas we are going to save to put into our budget. And they talk about renewable energy because if you say you are going to use gas to reduce fossil fuel it means that you are going to use renewable energy. “So, some of these things we need to also begin to interrogate as media and civil society. So gas flaring is as bad as this and that is why this conference is happening in Benin.
“We will have two days to have that conference and talk about these issues; the issues of environmental injustice, the issues of gas flaring will be one of the issues that will be on the table.”
