From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Leader of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark, has warned that anything short of 10 percent as actual annual operating expenditure of the preceding financial year in the upstream petroleum operations affecting the host communities for funding of the Host Communities Trust Fund, peace and security may be not be guaranteed in the Niger Delta region.
This is coming a exactly one week after he demanded for the reversal of newly passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which is ready for harmonisation, describing it as satanic, unjust, embarrassing, and has dashed the hope of the people of the outline rich region.
The former federal commissioner for Information, spoke in Abuja, yesterday, when he received the leadership and members of the Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas, (HOSTCOM) led by the National President, Benjamin Tamanarebi.
Clark said the newly passed PIB is obnoxious and devilish which must not be accepted.
According to the elder statesman, what the host communities want is 10 percent in order to guarantee the businesses, investments and the safety of Investors in the region, as well as peace in the area, adding that the people rejected the bill in its entirety because they want to be part of the process.
Clark, who is also the South South and Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) leader, said that he aligned himself in totality with the position and reactions by HOSTCOM on the PIB, saying that the people of the oil rich region have been talking about taking their destiny into their own hands, adding, “very soon, it will come to pass, we are not second Class citizens in this country. I discovered that everything was manipulated in the PIB by the the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan.
“We want to be part of the operation, let us be part of what is going on in our area which is killing us, our ecosystem, our fishes. I have had enough of these insults. Federal Government must account for who are the owners of oil Blocs and who are the marketers. The equity share must be 10% for the Host Communities and we will continue to reject it until they make us part of it.”
In his presentation, the National President of HOSTCOM who presented their position paper to Chief Edwin Clark, said the Senate and the House of Representatives must harmonise and arrive at 10% equity fund for the host communities and slash to 10%, the 30% approved for frontier basins development.