NGOs, communities lament exclusion from PIB debate

Joseph Atainyang, Uyo

Stakeholders from oil producing communities have called on the National Assembly to create alternative channels for communities to air their views on the ongoing debate on the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020.

At a strategy meeting on the PIB for CSOs and community stakeholders from oil and gas producing communities held recently at Ibom Hotel, Uyo, the stakeholders expressed their disappointment at the exclusion of community voices during the recent Public Hearings on the Bill by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Speaking during the event, Executive Director of Policy Alert, Tijah Bolton-Akpan, said many provisions of the bill are averse to host communities’ Interests.

He said such disparities must be modified before such a bill is passed into law.

“One of the problematic characteristics of the debate on the reform of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector is the exclusion of the very communities, who bear the brunt of petroleum extraction.

“The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) 2020 in its current form actually mortgages the socio-economic rights of the host communities to the settlors, that is the oil companies.

“For instance, the settlors determine what is a host community. They determine the composition of the Board of Trustees of the proposed Host Community Trusts.

“The law even says the Trustees may not necessarily be from the host communities; the settlors determine how the Fund is managed; the settlor oversees the conduct of needs assessment for community projects, and the community even has to pay the settlor from their Fund, if a company facility is vandalised, transferring the burden of security to communities.

“The bill still has insensitive provisions that permit the environmental despoilation of host communities.

“Yet, despite these weaknesses in the bill, you witnessed the sham that took place at the National Assembly in the name of a public hearing, and how the communities were prevented from airing their views in the making of a law that could sentence them and their unborn children to a new form of slavery.

“Our view is that until the conversation is devolved to capture the voices of host communities, the ensuing legislation might be legal without being legitimate, which portends disaster”, Bolton explained.

The meeting, which was put together by OrderPaper Nigeria and other partners, was aimed at designing strategies for ensuring that the PIB reflects the interest of host communities.