…Buhari Deserves Commendation-Akpabio
The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC),has picked holes in the signing of the controversial Petrolum Industry Bill (PIB) into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying he was no longer welcomed in the Niger Delta.
The group also warned the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva not to visit the region following his role in the passage of the PIB and the subsequent presidential assent giving to it by Buhari.
Its national spokesman,Ebilade Ekerefe,expressed the group’s disaffection,and noted that though the president and the minister had the constitutional right to move to any part of the country, they should henceforth stay away from the region.
He said”Their (Buhari and Sylva) movement into the six states of the Niger Delta will be welcomed with boos and disgraceful jeers due to their show of disregard to the plights and cry of the people of the region over the years”.
According to him, the decision not to entertain Buhari and Sylva in the region was a further expression of the disregard they had demonstrated towards the people, and should not expect accolades and congratulatory messages from the region.
He said the presidential assent given to the bill was an affront to the people who had rejected the three per cent for oil host communities and demanded 10 per cent canvassed during the public hearings on the PIB.
He added that the president should have returned the bill to the National Assembly for upward review of the three per cent equity share to host communities whose environments had been destroyed by oil exploration activities.
He described the explanations of Sylva as lame,adding that as a son of the Niger Delta he should have apologized and appeal to the people rather than justifying the Petroleum Industry Act which was politically tailored to favour the north and its allies in the oil and gas industry.
He said it was a rape of justice and equity for the National Assembly to approve a grossly inadequate three per cent as against the 10 per cent stakeholders agreed upon, and 30 per cent for the Frontier Basins when the National Assembly Joint Committee visited the area.
He said:”With the amount of speed the president used in signing the PIB without recourse to the position of stakeholders from the region, the president has further demonstrated that the opinions of the Niger Delta people don’t matter in his government as we’ve witnessed in other areas that require urgent attention of his government.
“In the light of the forgoing, there’s no better time for the people of the Niger Delta region to intensify the struggle for resource control and self-determination. We believe strongly that, that will be the only sure path upon which our God-giving natural resources can be managed by us, and not this impunity we’ve witnessed from a repressive Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari.”
Meanwhile,the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio has said that a trust fund would be opened for the 3% allocated to host communities in order to avoid crisis that may arise on account of the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act.
He spoke at the 19th session of the State House briefing series coordinated by the Presidential Media Team,where he promised that the Ministry of Niger Delta would ensure that the funds are used on executing tangible projects for the host communities, rather than disbursing it among the elite class from such communities.
He explained that rather than engaging in arguments over how the 3% would be utilised, President Muhammadu Buhari should be commended for mustering the political will to sign the act into law after over five decades.
“I think the major problem is not about the disbursement but how it will impact the communities. These funds will be managed by the host communities themselves and the 3% will go into a trust fund for the various communities who are the original indigenes. We are excited about the Petroleum Industry Act, our job is to help facilitate the effective participation of the host communities. The trustees of the fund will come from the actual community.
“PIA when implemented is going to assuage the feelings of the host communities because they never had any real benefit in over 50years. The major thing now is to use it well for their own benefit”.
Akpabio revealed that the forensic audit report of the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC, which detailed discrepancies in contract awards in the past, including flagrant disregard for public procurement procedures among other infractions, was ready for presentation to the President.
He said as soon as the Ministry gets a convenient date from the presidency, it would be submitted.
