From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
A coalition of youth groups in Niger Delta have told President Muhammadu Buhari not to sign into law the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) recently passed by the Senate.
Also, the groups said they would not accept the three percent approved for host communities, stating that the PIB was a fraud against the oil producing communities and Niger Delta people.
Addressing journalists on behalf of the coalition in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday, Solomon Lenu, who doubles as convener, Ogoni Development Drive (ODD), called for the urgent review of the PIB to reflect the views of the host communities.
Lenu who is also the spokesman, Rivers State Civil Society Organization, said the action of the Senate undermined the 65 years of oil discovery and exploration sctivuties in the region and the resultant devastation of the environment there.
He said: “Host cimmunuties must be redefined to reflect the true meaning and not appropriating the terminoligy to communities that are not originally hosting or producing oil/oil installations.
“Instead of celebrations, we were left distraught with the discovery and realization that most of our tiny but critical demands which were made out of our magnanimity as a people of peace had not been met with the current bill as passed.
“That the PIB must be revisited with the views of the host communities carefully considered, as this was not the case with the current bundle of pain the national Assembly is trying to foist upon the oil producing communities.
“That the current review of the 1999 constitution should precede the review and ratification of the PIB, as mist of the skweness and marginalization we see with this bill’s passage is predicated upon the carefully malevolence in the 1999 constitution.
“That there will be consequence in form of dissociation and loss of partnership of Niger Delta youths and people, should the government proceed further without giving consideration to the anomalies cited in the position of ours.”
Similarly, the Executive Director, Center for Social Justice and Environmental Rights Protection, Legborsi Yamaabana, expressed disgust that the Niger Delta people were being made to protest for everything.
He declared that their decision on the purported PIB passage was irrevocable, saying if governmentnt fails to listen to the voice of good reasoning, the cost will he too much.
“If the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government assents to this bill, Niger Delta will withdraw our social licence from the oil companies.
“The Buhari government must not assent to this bill in the collective interest of national healing and reconciliation.
“If we believe we are Nigerians and we understand what the Niger Delta has gone through, this must not be considered at all. An attempt to do it is a reason to violence”.
The coalitionI called on the Niger Delta freedom fighters to rise up for defence, saying it is time for Niger Delta to fight for their right.
