The advocacy for international oil companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region to fully relocate to their states of operations has been heightened as the country’s Senate lends its voice to it.
Acting on a motion sponsored by the senator representing Akwa Ibom North East (Uyo) Senatorial District, Obong Bassey Albert, the Senate mandated its Committees on Petroleum Resources Upstream headed by the sponsor, Albert, and the Committee on Petroleum Downstream headed by Senator Mohammed Sabo to liaise with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Presidential Implementation Committee on the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to facilitate the relocation.
The motion referenced the recently passed Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in addressing the excuse of insecurity often cited by the IOCs as main reason for not relocating to the oil producing areas as the PIA 2021 mandates host communities to secure oil and gas infrastructure in their domains.
Accordingly, the motion outlines that the relocation among various benefits would present an avenue for the restoration, recovery and rehabilitation of infrastructural facilities abandoned by the various oil and gas companies in their various operational bases to ensure their full utilization.
During presentation on the floor of the Senate, Senator Albert also highlighted that the motion “will also boost development in those areas and enhance the corporate social relationship and strengthen our collective resolve to considerably reduce the contentious cost of production and ensure adequate returns to the Federation Account.”
Being hinged on the PIA injects verve into an agitation which hitherto lacked legal backgrounding. The agitation over the years was a mere sentimental adventure. Rife outcry buoyed by several orders – including presidential orders which yielded no positivity.
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Copious Presidential Orders Failed To Compel The IOCs To Action
Emphasizing the need for an implemented law to that effect, a Human Rights activist, Chidi Ugoma Esq., in an interview with business journal, Nairametics, had stressed that “mere presidential directive cannot compel IOCs to relocate unless there is an act of the National Assembly spelling out that.”
He added, “This is why we have been calling on the National Assembly to deliver the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) so as to achieve such directive seamlessly. No law enforcement agency can because of the presidential directive go and accost IOCs in order to compel them to relocate because there is no law backing that, not even an order of a competent court of jurisdiction.”
Ugoma made it clear that the order was a mere wishful thinking of the presidency which had no basis in law.
The PIA which was finally assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari after years of legislative and executive bureaucracy finally offered a legal framework for oil-bearing areas of Nigeria to be accorded due considerations. Among the considerations was a proviso for IOCs to situate their headquarters within their operational territories.
Upon passage of the bill, Senator Bassey Albert Akpan, who co-chaired the Joint Committee on Petroleum which handled the bill had labelled it “a victory to every Nigerian, every Niger Delta person and the oil and gas industry”, adding that “we are now ready to receive the much expected inflow of investment into the Niger Delta region and Nigeria in general.”
In spite of few perceived Achilles of the PIA, its strong points were encouraged even as apparent loopholes were identified for future amendment.
The majority opinion is that the proposed relocation would engender global best practices in the operations and overall running environment of the oil industry for the optimal benefit of the host communities.
The IOCs operating in proximity with the host communities will make them more aware of the plight of the region unlike them operating from far-flung places and only having third party information on the area.
Reinforcing the thought, president, Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (PHCCIMA), Dr. Emi Membere-Otaji, at a recent economic conference in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, said complying with the relocation agitation would be a major step in quelling underdevelopment, poverty and associated social vices like militancy and insecurity in the area.
“Just as the management of international oil companies like Shell, Chevron, Total, etc. reside in war-torn but oil producing countries like Iraq and Libya to work and produce their oil instead of running to safe havens; the fastest way to curbing the insecurity in the oil producing Niger Delta is for these oil companies management to ‘take the bull by the horns’, to work and reside in their areas of operations,” he suggested.
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He continued, “Because most of the key oil producing states of the country are coastal states, with moribund seaports. Reawakening the eastern ports in Port Harcourt, Warri, Sapele and Calabar will not only activate massive economic activities in the South-South and South-Eastern ports of the country through ports and shipping services but will also put most of the youths in gainful employment and not criminality.
“Today, the Eastern ports barely function because of obsolete infrastructure and un-dredged channels. Most people in the area import and export their goods through the Western ports of Lagos. Imagine that Singapore, without any natural resources but just a shipping hub is a first world country. But Port Harcourt, founded in 1912 by the then colonial government as a port city and economic Mecca for all at the time, then one can add up and realise the socio-economic importance of revival of the eastern ports as panacea to the nation’s current socio-economic dilemma.”
Against this backdrop, however, an Uyo-based general affairs analyst and broadcast journalist, Success Umoh, in an interaction with Crystal Express Newspaper suggested that the agitation should extend beyond merely demanding for the relocation, and called for a sincere and holistic approach to the advocacy.
“The IOCs need the assurance that their investment in the region is safe,” he said. According to Umoh, when IOCs’ investments are safe, accelerated development of the region would be guaranteed. He saluted Senator Bassey Albert for “exhibiting courage in moving the motion for the relocation of the IOCs to the Niger Delta region.”
The majority vote is that the relocation agitation is an offshoot of the collective call for far-reaching reforms in the oil and gas ecosystem as enshrined in the PIA, which although criticized for some perceived limited provisions for oil-bearing areas, is widely viewed as an encouraging leap in Nigerians’ quest for real impact in the sector.
