PIB: Host communities vs resource-bearing communities

As President Muhamadu Buhari may be looking forward to confer or decline assent to the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) whenever it is presented to him by the National Assembly which passed it recently,   prudence demands that he climbs a moral high ground that dwarfs the euphoria spreading across the country over the advent of the bill, to ponder on the matter. Just as the bill has elicited significant interest in and outside the country’s oil and gas industry, so has at least one of its provisions generated misgivings which portend a new upsurge in agitations by aggrieved elements in the Niger Delta region. This is the failure of the bill to establish a clear delineation between host communities of oil and gas facilities, as well as resource-bearing communities, who in the course of resource exploitation operations, find themselves bearing the brunt from the ravages of such exercises.

Until the politics of the bill gained momentum, the term ‘host communities’ was reserved for communities where actual exploitation of oil and gas was carried out. They were the communities in the frontline of resource exploitation, as far as oil and gas were concerned. However, the PIB has come with a new definition of host communities which refers to any community in or through which an oil and gas facility is located or passes through, and the scenario has changed.

Mundane as it may have been in the considerations of some of the lawmakers who voted the passed bill into legislative relevance, the perception of this dichotomy between hosts to mere facilities and landlords to actual oil and gas exploitation, the Niger Delta region remains real and now dictates the political permutations in context, with their legislators and other political leaders under fire over the bill. For, as many interests in the Niger Delta see the new definition of host communities by the PIB, it is a product of arm twisting of the zone and the rest of the country, by the federal government. And for the PIB to enjoy the legitimacy of a curative dispensation, the government needs to address that perception.

There is little doubt that the PIB is coming with great expectations for the country given the envisaged turn-around it is expected to usher the economy into, by introducing increased transparency,   accountability and attractiveness to sundry investors at home and abroad, among other positive spin-offs. However, so significant has the concern over the definition of host communities become that the Presidency should not take the bill as passed hook line and sinker. Indeed it is time to listen to the voices from the Niger Delta for whom this problem is an existential challenge. For instance the Governor of Bayelsa State Duoye Diri refers to the anomalous treatment of the host community issue, as a time bomb.  He is not alone as other leaders of the Niger Delta have also referred to the situation as one that needs a rethink by the President, before he assents to a dispensation that may deepen the crises in that zone further.

It is significant that one of the goals of the enterprise that facilitated the advent of PIB, is to facilitate the management of the concerns of the Niger Delta zone. On that note alone any sign that further trouble may ensue if by any chance the PIB may spawn unrest in the zone, justifies the discretion of the President in not going further with its assent, at least until the coast is clear.  And from all indications, this is hardly the time to test the mood of the restive elements in the area, given the recent threats by at least the Niger Delta Avengers militant group, over the delayed reconstitution of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Having been passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly, any further restructuring of the bill is now at the instance of the President through his prerogative of assent or decline. Given that he had in recent times played several cards to demonstrate that he has a listening ear to the rumblings in the Niger Delta Zone, the advent of the PIB offers a golden opportunity for him to press home his sympathies for the zone.

For the purpose of clarification, the imperative of delineating the two categories of hosts in the sector derives from the context of national interest. There is already a groundswell of undeniable mistrust of the   Nigerian government by the Niger Delta communities. This factor alone has dampened whatever optimism by several interests in the region, over the expected gains from the PIB. Besides the foregoing is the consideration that the PIB connotes significant foreign interests especially in the context of it providing the world with a polished face for the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

Hence, hardly will any other dispensation endear the country to the rest of the world more than the playout of equity in managing the delicate issue of host communities.