PIB: NORTHERN GOVERNORS OPPOSE HOST COMMUNITY FUND

At the public hearing on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) held last Thursday, July 17, 2013, the Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, represented by the Attorney General of Niger State and his Kaduna State counterpart also represented by the state’s Commissioner for Justice urged the National Assembly to expunge the Host Community Fund from the current draft of the bill before the National Assembly. Topping the Niger State’s list of concerns are the powers of the minister, the Host Community Fund and the governance structure of the three commercial entities – the National Oil Company, the National Gas Company and the National Petroleum Asset Management Company - proposed to replace the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

PIB FISCAL TERMS ARE THE HARSHEST IN THE WORLD – IOCs

Senate Joint Committee Public Hearing on the PIB

By Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri

“The fiscal terms in the current draft of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) are not only the "harshest", but the "most uncompetitive in the world”, oil and gas operators in Nigeria have said. At the senate joint committee-led public hearing on the PIB held last Thursday in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), representatives of the oil majors, including indigenous oil companies advanced an array of reasons for their mounting opposition to the Bill.

Under the platform of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) which represents about 18 international and indigenous oil companies in Nigeria, both foreign and local operators are ostensibly united in their sharp criticism of the proposed oil regime.  The OPTS representative told the Nigerian parliament that the body (OPTS) supports the Bill’s objectives to create a conducive business environment for petroleum operations; and to enhance exploration and exploitation of petroleum resources in Nigeria. However, the Bill as currently drafted will not deliver these objectives. As more and more countries are opening their boundaries for exploration and production, what Nigeria needs is an investment friendly and business conducive environment. Given the scale and magnitude of reforms, Nigeria cannot afford to get things wrong.

PIB: MINISTER'S POWERS NOT TOO MUCH - DIEZANI ALLISON MADUEKE

“The powers vested on the Petroleum Minister under the Petroleum Industry Bill  (PIB) are not excessive”, says  Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allisson Madueke. She made this statement at the Senate Joint Committee public hearing on the PIB held last Thursday at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, Nigeria. Consistent with its mandate to promote oil sector transparency in Nigeria, Spaces for Change attended the public hearing where it submitted two separate memoranda on the bill, and addressed the Nigerian parliament, flagging and proffering a set of recommendations for strengthening specific provisions in the Bill requiring further legislative scrutiny and amendment.  

PIB: CSOs DEVELOP JOINT AGENDA

Four standing Senate Committees on Petroleum Resources comprising (Upstream and Downstream), Gas and Judiciary and Human Rights have scheduled public hearing on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB)   on Thursday and Friday July, 18 & 19, 2013 respectively. Private energy experts and civil society groups in Nigeria working on environmental, community participation, conflict and security issues related to natural resources came together on July 16, 2013 in Lagos to jointly identify key provisions of the oil reform bill requiring further legislative scrutiny and amendment.  After reviewing several analytical papers and oil sector reform projects undertaken by independent experts and organizations, participants proffered a set of recommendations contained in a jointly prepared memorandum of understanding that will be submitted to the Senate Committee at the public hearing. 

ENGAGING OIL PRODUCING COMMUNITIES ON THE PIB (CALABAR PHOTOS)

Traditional leaders, youth and women leaders play important role as spokepersons in the Niger Delta region generally, especially in oil producing communities. Their voices are important in the discussions and advocacy on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), hence the need to meet with them and apprise them with the key issues and provisions of the Bill that could potentially impact on their wellbeing and livelihoods. For this reason, Spaces for Change (S4C) and members of the PIB Advocacy Working Group convened series of community sensitization workshops, group discussions and policy dialogues with the target groups across oil producing communities within the 6 major states in the Niger Delta: Edo (Delta State); Port Harcourt (Rivers state), Warri (Delta state), Yenagoa (Bayelsa state), and Calabar (Cross River state).

JUSTICE NOW!!! FOR VICTIMS OF YOBE SCHOOL MASSACRE

Spaces for Youth Development and Social Change (SPACES FOR CHANGE) condemns in very strong terms, the gruesome killing of 29 pupils and a teacher at a school in Mamudo town, Yobe State, allegedly perpetrated by an Islamic terror group popularly known as Boko Haram. According to news reports today, the death toll has risen to 45! Spaces for Change considers the latest incident as a monumental threat to national peace and security, and more so, a gross and systematic violation of the right to life which has disproportionately targeted harmless young people for several months. Not only that, we are deeply saddened that these escalating attacks are happening at a time the Federal Government has declared a state of emergency in Yobe and other states in North East Nigeria.  

PIB: Can Oil Producing Communities Stop Crude Oil Theft?

By Chika Onuegbu PENGASSAN/NUPENG 

Recently, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources estimated that Nigeria is currently losing some 250,000 barrels of crude per day to oil thieves. Most of these thefts are carried out through the outright sabotage of oil facilities especially the pipelines and the flow stations from where products are taken for sale. Essentially, Nigeria loses between U$6bln to U$12bln per annum. These estimates are just for loss of crude, and does not include losses from refined products, or the value of the equipment and lives lost during numerous blow outs e.g. the Arepo recurrent incidents. 

PIB & HOST COMMUNITIES: REPORT OF CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

The 2-day conference, Host Communities & the PIB: Opportunities, Challenges and the Way Forward held at Aldgate Hotel, Sani Abacha Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State on April 23 - 24, 2013 was an outstanding conference bringing together 55 participants from various states in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region, advocates and stakeholders in the oil and gas industry plus 12 speakers and panelists over the two days. 

As the central point of oil production, the Niger Delta region is most gravely affected by oil prospecting and exploration activities in which the traditional means of subsistence, farming and fishing in the creeks, streams and mangroves are adversely affected by constant oil spills, gas flares, blow-outs and leaks, with spiraling effects on health, soil productivity, aquatic life and the environment. The conference therefore aimed to campaign for the improved governance of the environment and to strengthen the structure for community participation in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), Nigeria’s latest legal regime for reforming its oil sector.

Lamentations of Niger Delta villagers: We no longer get fishes to catch in our creeks

By Gbenro Adeoye:

Mrs. Margaret Sunday, a fish farmer in Kenyangbene community, Gbaramatu Kingdom , an Ijaw coastal community in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, has been in the business for about two decades. But in the period, Sunday said the last eight years have been tough, given the increasing oil exploration activities in her community.

Some 15 years ago, Sunday said she caught a weekly average of 20000 fishes, a figure that has reduced to about 1000 fishes.

Sunday said, “Even the 1000 fishes cannot be caught around the community, we have to go far away from the community. We used to catch plenty of fishes here before, but today, it’s very few and it’s getting more and more difficult for us to survive. We are supposed to be rich because of the oil but sadly, we are poor because our government does not look after us.”

According to Sunday, keeping her children in school is increasingly becoming a challenge due to the effects of pollution in her community.

Kenyangbene hosts a major oil flow station belonging to Chevron Nigeria Limited, where oil directly flows from the oil well to for primary treatment and control. However, the lot of the residents deeply contrasts with the heavily-guarded multi-million dollar investment seated within the community.

It is is predominantly made up of wooden shacks, with some planks, windows and doors hanging loosely from their nails and hinges. A familiar smell of fresh and smoked fish pervades the community, which is largely dominated by fishermen and fish mongers.

Although the community has light and potable water running in tiny silver pipes, our correspondent learnt that the utilities were the results of protests by community members.

An Ijaw community leader and executive member of the Egbema- Gbaramatu Central Development Foundation, Mrs. Josephine Ogoba, said, “They did not just get the light and water, they fought before the oil company succumbed to their demands and decided to supply them.”

Also, Kenyangbene has a public primary school, Kenyangbene Primary School, but to get secondary school education, pupils have to go to other communities by boat. There are no health centres in the community and residents have to rely on local drug stores.

The community chief, Mr. Aaron Ifitimo, said the community had been largely neglected by relevant authorities, adding that most policies affecting them are carried out without due consultations with the residents.

He said, “Government does not know what we are facing because they don’t visit here. Government officials ought to go round to the communities they govern but they have not been doing that.

“Last year, we had a serious flooding problem, where people died and crops were destroyed. But our government is only interested in taking all our money and leaving us worse than it met us.”

In the creeks, our correspondent observed that plants in the stream corridors have blackened roots, with the smell of oil spreading through the forests. Two other coastal communities in Warri South West Local Government Area, Batan and Egwan II are, however, faced with a different kind of problem.

Following the discovery of oil wells in the communities, Shell Nigeria reportedly asked the members of the communities to relocate to new sites without adequate compensation for their troubles. Ogoba said, “The residents were only asked to relocate to a new place but there was no provision for them except for a jetty. So far, people have refused to move to the new place as there is only one house there.”

In Ekpan, Uvwie Local Government Area, which is not an oil producing community, residents suffer the effects of air pollution from gas flaring by the Warri Refinery Petroleum Company located within the community.

Residents identified the soot observed on cars and other items within the community as the result of gas flaring. The Executive Director, Institute for Dispute Resolution and the National Coordinator, Campaign Against Arms Trade Network, Nigeria, Innocent Adjenughure, said more residents have been having respiratory ailments, which he ascribed to the pollution from the gas flaring.

He said, “We are not an oil producing community, but we have Chevron and WRPC on our land, causing pollution. Although, we have not been able to carry out any comprehensive survey, to know the exact impact of the gas flaring activity, we are sure that the black soot from the plant is causing harm to our people. Sometimes when I cough, sneeze or put a finger in my nose, I see black soot. The soot is like an umbrella over the community and it stains our clothes and covers our cars.”

In addition, the Chairman, Ekpan Development Committee, Mr. Godwin Omasibro, said the pollution worsens in the community after every rainfall. Omasibro, however, said that the leaders of the community have been using a delicate approach to make their grievances known to the government. According to him, other ways have got agitators killed in the past, although he failed to comment further on the issue.

He said, “Some people have died in this country for asking for their rights, so we are trying to tread softly. We have been talking to people but we have not been writing because what you say, you can deny later, but what you wrote and signed, will be difficult to deny.”

Also, Omasibro said an Italian, who was part of the team that constructed the plant where gas is being freely flared in the community, told some community members that it portended danger for residents. He said, “In 1978, when it was constructed, the Italian told us that after 50 years, we would start seeing some kinds of sickness that we never experienced before. Therefore, the health problems may start manifesting in some of us soon and in the children that are being born. In such children, the products of what their parents have taken in may manifest in them as predicted by the Italian.”

A farmer and fisherman in the community, Mr. Chris Wiliki, told Saturday PUNCH that he was already contemplating leaving his job for a more promising one, due to the dwindling fortune of the farming business in the community, occasioned by oil pollution.

Wiliki, who has been cultivating cassava, plantain and palm tree for over 30 years, said, “In the last 15 years, our lands have stopped producing good crops because of oil pollution. The fish ponds are also polluted; it’s only when it rains that the ponds gets cleaned a little by rain water.”

In her reaction, the Administrator and Media Officer for Spaces for Change, a human rights organisation, Ms. Funmilayo Fakeye, said residents should take interest in policies that seek to affect them. She said, “For instance, people in the Niger Delta should engage in dialogue over the Petroleum Industry Bill so that they can voice out their concerns before the bill is passed into law.”