Host Community Calls For Sincerity In PIA Implementation
3 min read
by Pearl Harold An oil and gas host community, Ogbele in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, has called on stakeholders to be sincere in the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, as it concerns the host communities.
The call was made July 1, 2024, at the community Town Hall, during a visit by Cedarcref Sustainability, an NGO saddled with the responsibilities of carrying out NEEDS Assessment and evaluation of host communities for a five year development plan.
The community secretary, Comrade Solomon Oyagiri queried the rationale behind the community listing its needs without knowing how much accrued it from the institutionalized 3% OPEX Development Trust Fund.
Oyagiri, who described the arrangement as absurd, appealed for total transparency by stakeholders in the PIA implementation in order to rekindle the lost hope of the host communities in its relationship with the government and the oil and gas companies.
In his words; “The people not knowing how much is accrueable to it but requested to list its developmental needs is absurd.
“Stakeholders at all levels should exhibit the utmost sense of transparency in the implementation of the PIA. The key word should be ‘trust’. Without it, the objective of the PIA will be eroded.
Others that spoke, the Public Relations Officer, PRO of the community, Chief Elder Nathan Amuso and the community women association secretary, Mrs Blessing Udo, also harped on trust, sincerity and genuine readiness to implement the community s developmental needs according to priority.
The PRO, who blamed his pessimism on the total absence of any form of development to the company’s over 20 years of operation in the community, called for change as promised by the new community affairs manager, Blessing Okpowo.
Amuso lamented the insensitivity and nonchalance exhibited by its corporate citizen, while the community received it with open arms, adding that the only dividend gotten from it, had been mayhem, crisis visited on the community through divide and rule system.
On his part, the chairman of Ogbele Community BoT members, Chief Sir Lot J. A. Okodu, thanked all stakeholders for the successful NEEDS Assessment exercise.
He urged for patience and understanding, trusting that the community would not be shortchanged.
Earlier, Dr. Banji Adekoya, Team head of Cedarcref Sustainability, explained that his team is only saddled with the responsibilities of assessing, evaluating and analysing the community’s five years development plan as stipulated in the PIA.
He assured the community of doing exactly as proposed by it, added that the implementation would be based on availability of funds accrued to it.
Projects listed were; community ring/internal roads, oil and gas operation based skills, completion of electricity project, health scheme for the aged, women empowerment, construction of staff quarters for primary and secondary schools teachers, amongst others.
Highlights of the exercise were the touring of the villages in the community, visits to farm lands, fish ponds, oil mills, etc.
The Ogbele community houses the refining facilities of Aradell Holdings PLC, former Niger Delta Petroleum Resources PLC, operators of Oil Mining License, OML 54.
