Don’t assent PIB, fresh hostilities loom in N’Delta, says Dickson
A former Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has asked the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to withhold his assent on the Petroleum Industry Bill passed by the National Assembly.
He said, there was the need for the review of the proposed legislation to accommodate the five percent allocation to the host communities.
Dickson, who is representing Bayelsa West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, stated this in Abuja.
He said, “We believe that there should be a review of the legislation. There shouldn’t be a signature yet. President Buhari shouldn’t assent to it yet.
It should be delayed for a more consultative and inclusive work so that while trying to solve problems, you don’t create more problems.
“If the President has not guaranteed security in the North-East, South-East, South-West and North-West, it will be against the national interest to open another frontier of conflicts, perhaps in the only region that is enjoying relative stability because of the policies that the Late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua initiated”.
Dickson lamented that the leadership of the Senate, led by Ahmad Lawan, frustrated efforts by the South-South Senators to get the support of their colleagues from other regions to approve the five percent host communities share.
He said, the action of the Lawan-led leadership to invite the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, to the Senate Chambers made Senators from other regions to withdraw their support for the five percent allocation.
He said, “Senator Thompson Sekibo and i were mandated to reach out to other Senators who are not in our region and we did. We spoke to most of them and they all supported us for the five percent.
“Before we took that deliberation and the vote, the Minister of Petroleum and the GMD of NNPC were invited to give us the executive perspective.
“They told us that it is either we agree to 2.5 percent or no investment.
“So, i can feel how those members who had earlier given us their commitment felt when they heard the tough position by the executive.
“There are several frontier basins in the country. I know it serves the national interest in exploring more basins by why allocating 30 per cent of NNPC profit to oil exploration when the desire of the host communities were not met.
“They were denied the 5 per cent and this would raise security concerns because the Nigerian security operatives will be overwhelmed and they will need money to work.
“meanwhile, if we said five per cent and the producing communities are on the same page with the government, there will be a secure and safe environment”.
