The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has stated that the passage of the Host Communities’ Bill aspect of the Petroleum Industry Bill would give oil producing communities a sense of belonging.
Speaking at the Government House, Port Harcourt, last Wednesday, during a courtesy visit by the Senate Committee on Petroleum Industry Bill, Wike said that the bill, when passed, would address the challenges faced by oil producing communities.
Wike said: “This is an important aspect of the Petroleum Industry Bill as it concerns the host communities. The host communities will become a component part of the entire process.
“The oil producing communities are bedevilled by all kinds of environmental challenges. The passage of the host communities’ bill will give them a sense of belonging”.
Wike added that the passage of the bill would also enhance the security of petroleum pipelines because of the involvement of the host communities in the production process.
According to the governor, setting aside a certain percentage of funds for the development of host communities was critically important for the peace and economic revitalisation of the communities.
He urged the Senate Committee on Petroleum Industry Bill to visit all slated communities for the necessary interaction as regards their peculiar needs.
Earlier, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Industry Bill, Senator Kabiru Marafa, had said that the Senate attaches importance to the passage of the Host Communities’ Bill.
Marafa noted that the Host Communities’ Bill would be passed before the long vacation of the Senate, adding that the initiative to segment the bill was to ease the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill.
“On assumption of office, the 8th National Assembly took it upon itself to break the jinx and pass the Petroleum Industry Bill once and for all”, he boasted, and assured that the lawmakers would not fail to fulfil that commitment to Nigerians.
