– Wants PIA reviewed over oil installations protection placed on host communities
Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Stakeholders in the Niger Delta region have urged the federal government to urgently release a framework and a guide over the divestment of oil multinationals from onshore communities.
The stakeholders also demanded a review of the Petroleum Industry Act to provide a definite deadline for gas flaring as well as eliminate the section of the PIA that places the responsibility to protect oil installations on host communities.
These were part of the resolutions reached at the 2nd Niger Delta Alternatives Convergence convoked recently by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation in Port Harcourt.
A communique issued by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, HOMEF, Oilwatch Africa and We The People, on behalf of the delegates at the conference, urged the government to urgently establish frameworks to ensure that corruption is eliminated in the management of oil revenues that accrue to host communities.
Speaking on behalf of the network, Dr Nnimmo Bassey, urged the government to prevail on oil multinationals to fulfil all global memorandum of understanding obligations with their host communities before divesting their assets to indigenous oil operators.
“That the federal government immediately produces a framework and guide for how oil companies disengage from areas where they have operated.
“The government must compel divesting IOCs to fulfill all outstanding Memorandum of Understanding and Global Memorandum of Understanding obligations to communities and their environment before handing over assets to indigenous operators.
“An immediate review of the PIA by the National Assembly to provide a definite deadline for gas flaring by oil companies and eliminate powers to permit flaring.
“Review gas flare fines to reflect the same amount as commercial value of natural gas in the international market, while transferring flare fines to host communities; Eliminate the section of the PIA that places the responsibility to protect oil installations on host communities.”
“That the federal and state government immediately establish frameworks to ensure that corruption is eliminated in the management of oil revenues that accrue to communities. These include the ecological fund, the 13% derivation and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. In particular, the NDAC demands the release of the forensic audit report on the activities of the NDDC and the prosecution of those that fleeced the Commission.”
The stakeholders in the communique assured that Niger Delta Alternatives Convergence will continue as a peoples’ space for advocacy and engagement, guided by the Niger Delta Manifesto for Socio-ecological Justice.
“That detailed plans be produced by the states and federal government to respond to new and emerging climate change threats to include strategies for supporting community resilience, controlling flooding, relocating communities, addressing health concerns and providing for the social and economic needs of affected people.
“That the Niger Delta must move beyond talks and immediately take action, including nonviolent direct action, as well as utilizing all available legal instruments to demand justice.
“An immediate and comprehensive audit of the entire Niger Delta region. This audit should cover environmental, livelihood, health, social and economic impacts of crude oil and gas extraction, and should be immediately followed by the decommissioning of decrepit facilities, remediation of impacted places, restoration of the human and ecological damages causes by extraction activities, and reparations for the irreversible and extensive damages caused by oil extraction.”
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