Environmental Group Rejects PIB, Frontier Basins Fund

Adibe Emenyonu

The Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/ FoEN) has rejected the recent passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by the National Assembly, and called on both chambers of the Assembly to immediately harmonise and produce environmentally friendly and peoples bill.

According to a statement released in Benin-city, Edo State, the Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, said the National Assembly failed to do justice to the bill which has been pending since 2008.

Ojo wondered why members of the National Assembly would approve a paltry three percent for the host communities in the Host Communities Trust Fund, saying it’s far below bar, and constitutes an affront to the suffering rural communities.

Instead, ERA/FoEN, he said, wanted the government to immediately divest the 30 percent allocated to frontier oil exploration and invest it in renewable energy development such as solar, to provide improved energy access to the citizens given the deplorable state of the national grid.

The group noted that the three percent allocation for host communities is insufficient due to the ecological dislocation of the region, which has culminated in appalling level of pollution of their agricultural land, fisheries and drinkable water, thus exposing thousands of people to serious health risks.

According to Ojo, “The UNEP report estimated that it would take up to 30 years and an initial of $1 billion to clean up Ogoniland. We, therefore, insist that 10 percent should be considered by the National Assembly as the minimum for the host communities owing to the level of degradation they already suffered following the years of neglect by the oil companies and government.”

The ERA/FoEN boss said the clause in relation to the communities paying for acts of vandalism and civil unrest should be removed from the host community development fund because “this criminalises the people from the outset.”