Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has commended the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law.
This is also as the Artisanal Fishermen Association of Nigeria (ARFAN) in all the states in Nigeria Delta region on Tuesday commended Buhari for his assent to the bill.
Wike who spoke in a television interview in Port Harcourt on Tuesday however said the allocation of ‘a meagre three percent’ for host communities in the Niger Delta is unacceptable.
“I thought what Mr. President would have done was to tell members of the National Assembly, yes, you have done what you are supposed to, but again, you need to take into consideration the yearnings of the host communities.”
The governor bemoaned the exclusion of oil producing state governments in the implementation and administration of the 3% oil revenue recommended for host communities in the Petroleum Industry Act.
On the Valued Added Tax issue, Wike said the state government went to court to seek constitutional interpretation of the enabling law on whether state or federal government should be the sole collector of VAT.
On the part of the fishermen, the coordinator, Samuel Ayadi, noted that the new law holds promises for the Niger Delta region.
He said the new Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 made it statutory for oil firms to develop and involve communities where they operate.
He urged Buhari to prevail on Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), to pay the $3.6 billion fine imposed by the oil industry regulators over the 2011 Bonga oilfield spill.
The fishermen noted that they were yet to recover from the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown and that they were excluded from the palliatives given to the agric sector for food security.
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