Petroleum Industry Act Needs Urgent Review – Gov. Diri
Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, has urged the Federal Government to take a fresh look at the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to resolve conflicts in the Niger Delta oil-producing communities arising from the implementation of the legislation.
Senator Diri made the plea on Saturday during the triple celebrations of book launch, 60th birthday and 25th marriage anniversary of King Bubaraye Dakolo, chairman of the State Traditional Rulers Council, in Yenagoa, the state capital.
The governor was reacting to a comment by the minister of state for petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who said that litigations in host communities had made it impossible for them to access monies in the Petroleum Industry Trust Fund for their development.
Senator Diri noted that when the PIA was a bill during the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the state presented its position that excluding the oil-producing states and local councils from the administration of host communities, as provided in the then bill, would result in a crisis.
According to him, “the PIA, as it was designed, is a time bomb because the Federal Government cut off states and local government councils to deal directly with communities. It is my submission that the percentage due to oil communities conspiratorially reduced from 10 per cent to three per cent should be reviewed.
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He said: “I also call on the Federal Government to immediately review the aspect where states and local government areas were excluded from administering what is due to the communities. The states and councils are closer to the communities and it was wrong to have excluded them from the administration of these communities. The current situation is a recipe for crisis and I urge President Bola Tinubu to review it.”
While congratulating Dakolo, who is the Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama Kingdom, on the launch of his books, “The Pirates of the Gulf” and “The Kingfisher,” Senator Diri described the monarch as a rare king and urged the younger generation to see him as a role model.
He also described Dakolo as a literary giant, who took up the challenge after his ordeal at the Nigerian Defence Academy to fight injustice in the Niger Delta, emphasising that he has made a positive impact on the Ijaw nation and the country as a whole.
Diri, who launched the books with the sum of N100 million on behalf of the state government, directed the Ministry of Education to adopt The Kingfisher as part of the state’s secondary school curriculum.
“King Dakolo has served Bayelsa and the Ijaw nation. Dakolo and l had been together in the Ijaw struggle. He is sound and very intelligent. He is a literary giant and l urge our youths of the ljaw nation to see him as their role model.”
In his remark, the minister of state for petroleum resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who chaired the event, bemoaned oil communities’ inability to access the trust fund for their development as a result of the crises and litigations emanating from them.
The chief launcher and managing director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr Samuel Ogbuku, equally commended Dakolo for documenting his experience, which he said would create more enlightenment about the struggles of the Niger Delta.
