Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has reiterated its concerns about the 3 percent allocation for host communities and 30 percent for frontier exploration as contained in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), saying the provision greatly depletes the Federation Account.
Gatekeepers News had reported that President Muhammadu on Monday signed the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law and on Wednesday appointed the Minister of state for petroleum resources, Timipre Sylva to head the PIA implementation committee.
NGF Chairman, Kayode Fayemi who is also the governor of Ekiti State, on Thursday, said the governors were not carried along in the enactment of the law.
He however pledged that the Governors would cooperate with the PIA implementation committee.
In Fayemi’s words: “This is a matter that the entire forum has discussed extensively, and we have come to certain conclusions about what is called frontier funds. Whether it is three per cent or not, our concern there is that whatever you are taking into these places is a depletion of the federation account, that money will not go to the federation account, it would be spread across the few areas that you described as volunteer basis, rather than to the entire federation.
“And we worry more about the entire federation not about selected parts of the federation. For us as governors, that is a distinction without a difference. We are talking about depletion from the federation account, whether it is three per cent or 30 per cent.
“It is money that should come to federation account, that should then be subjected to fair and equitable distribution on principles of sharing, rather than one that is going to be at the whims and caprices of this new limited company.”
Fayemi said the forum would explore all available options before seeking legal interpretation. He said the Minister of Petroleum Resources had reached out to the forum to say that their concerns would be addressed as an amendment to the new petroleum law.
He stated, “It is not everything that we have to resort to court to resolve. We only do that when all options have been exhausted and we haven’t secured a reprieve.
“On this particular instance, we will work with the implementation committee. And if there is any reason for us to take an alternative measure, we will cross that bridge when we get to that. But at least it has been acknowledged that these issues can be resolved, in some way, shape or form, as we are proposing. We will wait and see before we take any further steps.”
Gatekeepers News reports that the NGF chairman commended Buhari for signing the Act but maintained that the constitutional issues the NGF raised before the bill was passed into law were not addressed.
He said, “As a matter of fact, we have commended these major developments in our country because it is something that has been on the cards for us.
“So, kudos to the president for finally working with the National Assembly to get the PIA in place.
“However, we also believe that whatever we are doing should be done in accordance with the constitution so that we do not have to blame ourselves.
“The issues that governors are concerned about, and which we made clear to the National Assembly when this bill was in the process of becoming an Act, relate to ownership structure and questions of accountability and transparency so that at the end of the day, we don’t subvert the original intention behind the petroleum industries act.”
