Executive Director of Policy Alert, Tijah Bolton, has lamented that the Petroleum Industry Act, which promised respite for oil host communities has worsened the frustration of communities in the Niger Delta.
Bolton stated this in Port Harcourt at the weekend during a workshop organised by Budgit Foundation on the ‘Cost of Corruption in the Extractive Industry’.
He said: “Most of what we see is environmental degradation, we see a lot of poverty, and conflict in these communities as a result of the invasion of their communities by oil and gas multinationals. And it appears that over the years, the Nigerian state has been a willing collaborator in the dispossession of our oil and gas communities.
“It is quite unfortunate because these are communities that actually were looking forward to the Host Communities Development Trust (HCDT), as something that is going to give them benefits. So now, one of the specific areas where these communities are disappointed is in the quantum of resources that will be flowing to them.
“We have three percent of preceding year operating expenditure that will be contributed to the Trust, whereas this Trust is actually going to be controlled, more or less, by the settlor, that’s the oil companies. The oil companies have the yam and the knife as it were and they leave the communities with the shorter end of the stick.”
Bolton stated that the issue of criminalising the communities will need to be addressed because it is a time bomb waiting to explode in the communities.
He noted that the issue of the definition of who is a host community, which is left for the settlor should be determined, pointing out that the issues are what trigger conflict and need to be addressed in the reviewed edition of the Act.
“So, if there is something the PIA is supposed to achieve for us, it is to re-energise the Niger Delta to provide sustainable energy for the people and how can that be done?
“So one of the things that the Host Communities Development Trust should do is to take some of these small resources coming to them and begin to invest in scaling up community people, especially young people in new skills that will be needed for the renewable energy system.”
Source- The Guardian Newspaper.