Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Indigenous oil firm, Seplat Energy Plc, says it has inaugurated four Host Community Development Trusts, HCDTs, for its host communities across its Western and Eastern oil fields.
The HCDTs, according to the oil firm, are NEPL/Seplat Akugbe, NEPL/Seplat Ethiope, NEPL/Seplat Ekugbe and NNPC/Seplat Ohaji South/Jisike.
Seplat Manager, Corporate Community Relations, External Affairs and Sustainability, Mr Uche Ifukor, said most decisions taken in the formation of the HCDTs were in consultation with the host communities.
Ifukor disclosed these in Port Harcourt at the just concluded two-day Technical Session on the Implementation of Host Community Development Trusts organised for critical stakeholders by Spaces for Change, S4C, with support from Ford Foundation.
Seplat stated that although the HCDTs are yet to be funded, each of them has five bank accounts, namely Funds Collection Account (USD), Funds Collection Account (Naira), Capital Project Account, Reserved Fund Account and Management Cost Account.
The oil firm scored itself high in community engagement, and said each community was engaged according to their peculiarities.”Conflict-sensitive community engagement is critical for a smooth and peaceful implementation of the PIA.
“It is important to get the facts straight and clear before engaging to avoid misinformation that may breed mistrust or erode trust and confidence.
“Consultation with critical community stakeholders must be prioritized. Inability to comply with timelines under the Act, oftentimes results from community resistance and difficult stakeholders,” Ifukor further said.
The Executive Director of Spaces for Change, Mrs Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, while speaking at the event, said in transiting from GMoUs to HCDTs, there was a need for a peer review mechanism among oil companies.
She also expressed concerns over the issue of onshore divestment creating a leeway for international oil companies to escape liability.
Ibezim-Ohaeri said: “In transiting from GMoUs to HCDTs, we also need to start pushing for a peer review mechanism among oil companies, so they can copy from each other the good practices that we have seen.
“Secondly, I think it is too high an obligation to leave the protection of oil and gas facilities in the hands of host communities. Something that the federal government has not successfully been able to accomplished and looking at the issue of vandalization, it is a very complex activity. It is not a community activity, the threshold is too high to leave it in the hands of host communities.”
