PIB: Oil-producing communities seek retention of 10% equity

January 23, 2012 by Emmanuel Addeh

The Oil Producing Communities in the Niger Delta on Sunday called for the retention of the 10 per cent equity share for host communities in the Petroleum Industry bill.

The Grand Patron of the Oil Producing Communities of Nigeria, Dr. Wellington Okirika, who spoke in Warri, argued that it would be unfair on the oil bearing communities to remove the provision as being rumoured in some quarters.

Okirika, who is the first Chairman of the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission, maintained that those who drafted the bill had the intention of correcting most of the wrongs that had been done to the oil producing communities in the Niger Delta.

The PIB seeks to address the need for Nigeria to have more indigenous participation in the oil industry in the country.

It would also encourage all regulatory authorities, operators, contractors, sub-contractors and other entities involved in any transaction in the Nigerian oil and gas industry to consider the Nigerian content as an important element of their overall project execution.

He lauded the directive of President Goodluck Jonathan in calling for the quick passage of the bill, while expressing confidence that the Special Task Force under the chairmanship of Senator Udo Udoma would do a good job.

Okirika, who is also the Bolowei of Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta State, expressed sadness that the sixth National Assembly failed to pass the bill into law because of the heavy politicking that accompanied it.

He said, “The oil producing communities of Nigeria were saddened when the sixth National Assembly failed to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill due to politicking. There is more than one version of the PIB in circulation currently as confirmed by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, during her Inauguration of the Special Task Force on PIB.”