Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State has again urged the Federal Government to take a fresh look at the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in order to resolve conflicts in Niger Delta oil-producing communities arising from implementation of the legislation.
The governor made the plea on Saturday during the triple celebrations of book launch, 60th birthday and 25th marriage anniversary of King Bubaraye Dakolo, chairman of the state traditional rulers council, in Yenagoa.
The Bayelsa governor was reacting to a comment by the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who said that litigations in host communities had made it impossible for them to access monies in the Petroleum Industry Trust Fund meant for their development.
Senator Diri noted that when the PIA was a bill during the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the state presented its position that excluding the oil producing states and local councils from administration of host communities, as provided in the then bill, would result in a crisis.
According to him, “the PIA, as it was designed, is a time bomb because the federal government cut off states and local government councils to deal directly with communities. It is my submission that the percentage due oil companies conspiratorially reduced from 10 per cent to 3 per cent be reviewed.
“I also call on the federal government to immediately review the aspect where states and local governments were excluded from administering what is due to the communities. The states and councils are closer to the communities and it was wrong to have them excluded from the administration of these communities. The current situation is a recipe for a crisis and I urge President Bola Tinubu to review it.”
While congratulating Dakolo, who is the Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama Kingdom, on the launch of his books, “The Pirates of the Gulf” and “The Kingfisher,” Senator Diri described the monarch as a rare king, and urged the younger generation to see him as a role model.
He also described Dakolo as a literary giant, who took up the challenge after his ordeal at the Nigerian Defence Academy to fight injustice in the Niger Delta, emphasising that he has made a positive impact on the Ijaw nation and the country as a whole.
Diri, who launched the books with the sum of N100 million on behalf of the state government, directed the Ministry of Education to adopt The Kingfisher as part of the state’s secondary school curriculum.
SOURCE: independent.ng