*Rejects 30% for frontier explorations
Mkpoikana Udoma
Abuja — Southern governors, on Monday, demanded for five percent of oil and gas revenue for host in the Petroleum Industry Bill, while vehemently rejecting the three percent proposed by the Senate.
The 17 governors in Southern Nigeria also rejected the proposed allocation of at least 30 percent of oil revenue for frontier explorations as captured in Section 9 of the PIB.
Although the proposed Bill did not identify the frontier basins, the governors in a communique issued at the end of its meeting, also rejected the structure of Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, as proposed in the Bill.
The communique read by Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, said the meeting was imperative to review the country’s situation and focused on the security situation, constitutional amendment and PIB.
Akeredolu who is also the Chairman, Southern Governors’ Forum, also commended the National Assembly for the progress made in the passage of the PIB.
“The Forum rejects the proposed 3percent and support the 5percent share of the oil revenue to the host community as recommended by the House of Representatives.
“The forum also rejects the proposed 30% share of profit for the exploration of oil and gas in the basins.
“However, the forum rejects the ownership structure of the proposed Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC).
“The Forum disagrees that the company be vested in the Federal Ministry of Finance but should be held in trust by Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) since all tiers of Government have stakes in that vehicle.”
