Tina Amanda
Stakeholders in the Oil and Gas Sector have reacted to the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill into law by the Senate, describing the 3 and 5 percent approval for Host Communities in the Niger Delta region as a slap in the face.
In an interview with our correspondent, Chairman Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Rivers State, Dr. Joseph Obele, insisted that the initial 10% proposed for Host Communities by initiators of the bill was not too much to have been reduced to 3 and 5 percent.
He acknowledged the fact that the bill will boost Oil and Gas Sector by creating employment opportunities, ushering in new investors and breaking the monopoly and dominance of the NNPC, noting that it is not a good news for Niger Deltans.
“Unfortunately, we in the Niger Delta region, the immediate Oil producing people are not happy. The initial ten (10) percent proposed by the initiators was not a bad one, but some cabal in the North insisted they will see to the end of the Bill to ensure the ten percent proposed for Oil Host communities is not added, lo and behold it has been passed only 3 and 5 percent percent was approved, this is not fair.
“It is not a good news to us and we are not celebrating. It is a good news to the Oil and Gas sector but a bad news to the Niger Delta people. Overall, the oil and gas will now experience development, investment here and there, because lots of foreign investors have been waiting for the PIB to be signed into law before they come and invest.
“As far as I am concerned, it is a slap to the Niger Delta, they told us the 10 percent will not be approved and indeed it was so. Niger Delta people, it is time we wake up.”
On his Part, Port Harcourt Zonal Chairman of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Peter Onita, expressed happiness that government has taken the right steps in the right direction, promising to study the details of the Bill to take their stand in the interest of all.
“we happy that government has taking the right steps to develop the industry, it is a welcome development for the industry. We will need to study the bill because before now a proposal had been sent by PENGASSAN concerning the bill. Now that it has been passed, it is for us to get it and see where we can explore in positive ways for the interest of all.
“As a new Bill, it can never solve the problems of Nigeria in its totality, but we believe as PENGASSAN, is that what ever thing we didn’t do well now, subsequently when there is room for amendment it would be the template for them. The Bill would be good for PENGASSAN and also be good for the country, because there must be a policy for the industry to stabilize, once it is stabilized the country will be better for all.”
