Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva is in big trouble for saying that the three per cent equity allocation to the host communities in the new Petroleum Industry Act is a fair deal.
The Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas, HOSTCOM, and other stakeholders of Niger-Delta have lambasted Timipre Sylva.
PANDEF, noticeably peeved by Sylva’s continued defence of three per cent for host communities, declared:
“Though, he (Sylva) is a bona fide and illustrious son of the Niger Delta, people need to understand that he is an appointee of President Muhammadu Buhari. With the President being his direct boss as substantive Minister of Petroleum, he would do and say what ‘they’ want him to do and say, unless he wants to lose his job.”
“Suffice to say that there is nothing satisfactory about the paltry three per cent provision for the Host Communities Development Trust Fund. Besides, with the overwhelming powers given to the ‘settlors’ on administration of the Trust, the Act obtrudes servility on host communities.”
“The signing of the PIB into law by Mr. President, despite protests from the people of the Niger Delta, is insensitive and remains unacceptable to all well-meaning Niger Deltans.”
“PANDEF considers it a clear message to the Niger Delta people that how they feel and what they say do not count at all in the schemes of the Nigerian project.”
HOSTCOM National President, Chief Tamanrebi, who maintained that three per cent was offensive to the host communities producing oil and gas, said:
“We are the ones pleading with President Buhari to consider the host communities by rejecting the three per cent for Host Communities Development Trust Fund in the PIA. He should not be asking us to accept three per cent when he knows that our demand is 10 per cent.”
“Host communities and the entire Niger-Delta made the demand for him to increase this three per cent to 10 per cent before he signed the PIA. Mr. President should have listened to our plea before signing the Act.”
“Timipre Sylva does not know what he is saying. How can they be coming to our house and did not involve us in what they are coming to do? How will it work? Who will show them round the house they are coming into? Do you just come to somebody’s house and start sauntering around on your own?”
“We are actually surprised that Sylva who is from the Niger Delta is talking this way because, today, he is working for government. How can he be talking about such an important issue affecting the people of Niger Delta where he comes from without availing himself of the true feelings of the people?”
“He is not telling the truth. Is the $500 million he is saying will accrue to the host communities from the three per cent static? Is it going to be coming yearly? That is the question. The other day, the managing director of NNPC said $16 billion is the operating cost. How did they come about that? We, as host communities, do not know how they came about that.”
“We are saying as host communities, we should be part of the business so that we know what is really happening. For instance, all of us will go to the forest like a fisherman will go to the river, we do the fishing together, whatever we have caught, we know and nobody gives a conflicting account.”
‘’If we are part and parcel of the system, we would know what is happening and not the present situation of things shrouded in secrecy.”
“If we are losing, we will know we are losing and if we are gaining, we know we are gaining. How can you tell us that funds from gas that is poisoning us should be transmitted midstream. Is that a fair deal that we, the communities, should not benefit from gas flare fund and some other persons will be managing the fund? I ask again, is that a fair deal?”
Former Provost-Marshal, Nigerian Army, Brigadier-Gen Ikponmwen, retd., said;
“Both the executive and National Assembly must take the blame for this mindless move that appears to have turned a blind eye to the hazards faced daily by oil communities and the grave damage to the environment of the oil producing communities.”
“It may still be pertinent to advise the President Buhari administration that there is compelling need to avoid decisions likely to escalate tension and agitation in already volatile communities.”
“Oloibiri provides a striking insight as to the neglect that awaits oil communities in Nigeria in the foreseeable future. One would have thought that those in power at the centre would see the imperative jump-starting the rebuilding and replenishing our depleting oil communities even now.”
Frontline leader of the Isoko nation and immediate past President General of Isoko nation, Chief Iduh Amadhe, said:
“Sylva is our son and he is supposed to know what we are suffering. We are our own problem. If we have a son like Sylva in government, he is supposed to protect our interests if there is an uproar and agitation that what we are talking about is not enough.”
“If he had given advice to the President on the need to make addition to what we have been given, that would have been more suitable than the comment he made. It shows that he does not have the interest of the Niger Delta at heart.”
“The President is not aware of the pains we are passing through because his people are not advising him appropriately. How are we going to blame the. President when our own son is saying what we have been given is fair enough?”