By Osaigbovo Iguobaro
The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth (ERA/FoEN) has rejected the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) recently passed by the National Assembly.
Recall that the Petroleum Industry Bill is a law that seeks to introduce far-reaching reforms in the Nigerian oil and gas industry which the previous administrations failed to pass into law due to lack of political will, diverse interests from different stakeholders as well as sectional interests.
The Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo in a press statement on Tuesday, described a paltry 3 per cent approved by the National Assembly for host Communities couched as the Host Communities Trust Fund is not only unacceptable, but constitutes an affront to the neglected rural poor Nigerians.
He recommended that the National Assembly should reconsider increase in the 3 per cent allocation to host communities to 10 percent in order to address many problems arising from unsustainable environmental practices including the destruction of livelihoods of the Niger Delta region for several decades.
