A group promoting economic and ecological justice in the Niger Delta, Policy Alert has called on State governments in the region to gazette all the villages and communities in oil and gas producing areas.
It added that such is a prerequisite for the effective implementation of host community provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
The group’s Senior Programme Officer, Mfon Gabriel disclosed this during a two-day Enlightenment Workshop on the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, for Host Communities organised in Uyo by the State Ministry of Power and Petroleum Development.
He noted that the inability of State governments to properly map and gazette oil and gas host and impacted communities would have explosive consequences for the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, as the Act already contained several provisions that could compromise the peace and stability of the region.
His words, ”With the expected establishment of the Host Communities Development Trust under the provisions of the Act beginning August 2022, it has become a matter of urgency for State Governments in all the oil and gas producing states to gazette all oil and gas communities.
“Proper identification, mapping, and gazetting of host and impacted communities is a prerequisite for beneficiation, yet many of these communities have remained ungazetted over the years, irrespective of the massive resource extraction and negative impacts borne by them.
“This makes it challenging to implement any sensible scheme aimed at transferring social and economic benefits to the communities, and leaves the communities vulnerable to conflict. After the PIA had made the mistake of making the settlers responsible for determining which communities qualify as host communities, any further ambiguity in the identification of who is hosting or affected by what assets would be a recipe for disaster.”
Gabriel further noted that by updating and publishing such records as quickly as possible, operators and host communities would be guided, and there would be minimal denials and recriminations as experienced in the past where some companies jettisoned their responsibilities to communities and the communities had nothing to hold on to.
The organisation commended the Ministry for the initiative and resources put together to enlighten host communities and oil and gas operators in Akwa Ibom State and called on governments of other oil producing States to initiate similar programmes.
Policy Alert also cautioned State governments against meddling in the actual set-up of the Host Communities Development Trust, as that would further dilute community ownership of the process and could be perceived by communities as an attempt by State governments to hijack their three percent the same way they allegedly did the thirteen percent derivation.