Reps panel pushes for 6 percent HOSTCOM fund

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

The House of Representatives Joint Committee on Host Communities and Public Petitions has said it would propose an amendment to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to increase funding for host communities from three to six percent.

The panel, which is jointly chaired by Dekor Dumnamene and Kwamoti Bitrus, chairman House Committee of HOSTCOM and Public Petitions, respectively, stated that the proposed amendment is intended to strengthen the HOSTCOM framework and ensure that more resources are available for infrastructure development, youth empowerment, environmental remediation and sustainable development in oil host communities.

This was part of a resolution reached by the Joint Committee at the end of a retreat involving lawmakers and Niger Delta stakeholders in Owerri, Imo State, yesterday.

According to the lawmakers, there is a need for Niger Delta stakeholders to shift their focus from  controversies surrounding pipeline contracts, in the region, to a fresh legislative push for an increase in funding  for host communities under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.

The retreat with the theme: “Strengthening Pipeline Surveillance Through Host Communities Partnership, Accountability and Sustainable Development Under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021” reviewed the current pipeline surveillance in place in the Niger Delta.

The lawmakers, while expressing satisfaction with the operation of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, in securing oil pipelines in the Nigeria Delta, described fresh agitations for the decentralization of the surveillance contract as misplaced.

“Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, in partnership with NNPCL, has rendered demonstrably effective service in the protection of crude oil pipelines and the recovery of national crude oil production.

“All calls for further ‘decentralisation’ of the private security contract are hereby dismissed as baseless and anti-Niger Delta.”

According to them, the PIA has already  provided a comprehensive framework for decentralised community participation in pipeline surveillance through the Host Communities Development Trust, HCDT, structure and the mandatory three per cent operating expenditure contribution by oil companies.

Therefore, the lawmakers stated that moving forward, all hands must be on deck to ensure that the proposed amendment to the PIA to increase the HOSTCOM fund is actualized.