The Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas (HOSTCOM) has lamented the non-remittance of 3% annual operational expenditure (OPEX) by international oil companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria.
Section 257 (2) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) states that oil and gas firms should remit 3% of their annual operational expenditure to affected host communities.
Briefing newsmen yesterday in Abuja, the National President of HOSTCOM, Dr Benjamin Tamaranebi, said none of the oil companies has complied with the provisions of the law, two years after it became effective.
He described the action of the IOCs as unacceptable and a precursor to the crisis in the affected communities.
Tamaranebi, who was flanked by other stakeholders from the host communities, called on the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to take action against the defaulting oil companies in line with relevant provisions of the PIA.
He said: “In fact, we call on the NUPRC to list out all the settlers who have refused to comply with the PIA 2021 or else we will have no choice than to escalate the issue of non-compliance to section 234 of the PIA 2021 and the Host Communities Development Regulation No 114 of 2022 to the president.
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He added that the required Host Communities Development Trusts (HCDTs) for management of the 3% remittance have been set up by 84 out of the 135 communities.
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