06072021 - We must okay FG's security operations in our states- Southern Govs

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12 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2021 :Vanguard News :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 By Emma Amazie, Henry Umoru, Samuel Oyadongha & Emem Idio LEADER of Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Chief Edwin Clark, has described the newly passed Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, as satanic, unjust, embarrassing and provocative. Clark, who is also the South- South and Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF, leader in an open letter to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said the passed PIB has dashed the hope of the people of Niger Delta, just as he described as fraudulent and provocative, the passed 30 per cent provision for the Frontier Exploration Fund. This came as Ijaw ethnic nationality has rejected the recently passed PIB, particularly the ceding of three to five percent to host communities, describing it as a "Greek Gift." Meanwhile, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, representing Edo South senatorial district in the Senate, has said some people, out of ignorance or mischief, were propagating wrong information different from the facts and provisions of the newly-passed PIB by the National Assembly. Clark in the open letter said: “Given the depth of ingratitude expressed and delivered after decades of exploitation and neglect of the region, the entire people of Niger Delta, for and on behalf of the host communities, reject the following aspects of the bill: The three per cent and five per cent of operating expenditure granted to the host communities and the fraudulent and provocative 30 per cent provision for the Frontier Exploration Fund. “And now demand: The PIB must be reversed, reviewed and amended to ensure that the oilbearing communities must now receive not less than 10 per cent of operating cost. “If this is not done, the Niger Delta people may be forced to take their destiny into their hands and all International Oil Companies, IOCs, may find themselves denied access to their oil activities in such communities. “We want to warn seriously that the people ofNiger Delta have had enough of this colonial and oppressive mentality of our Northern brothers and friends. Today, the North controls the oil sector, even though day-to-day operations are being handled by IOCs on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria. “The ownership, control, marketing, maintenance, management and the accruable benefits from the operations of the IOCs are in the hands of some Northerners. Appointments to the topmost positions in the oil companies owned by the Federal Government are in the hands of the North who have at least 25 managerial appointments, up to the position of Group Managing Director, GMD. "And only a few of these positions are held by Southerners, and fewer still by the Niger Delta, the home of oil production, an area which produces over 91 per cent of the total oil production, and who are the true owners of these Godgiven resources, contrary to the bogus and fraudulent claim by some uninformed persons that they own the oil because it was the revenue generated from groundnut that was used to develop the oil industry. “We have noticed with dismay, anger, disappointment and embarrassment, the oppressive and domineering attitude of most members of the National Assembly over the PIB, now due for imminent harmonisation by the National Assembly. Displeasure over the satanic and obnoxious allocation “The people of Niger Delta, at all levels at home and abroad, have expressed their great displeasure over the satanic and obnoxious allocation of a paltry percentage of operating expenditure to oil-producing communities by the National Assembly. It is important to state clearly here to all well-meaning Nigerians that the demand of the oil-bearing communities of the Niger Delta was a minimum of 10 per cent equity participation. “But you Mr Senate President, the Speaker and some of your colleagues in the National Assembly have further shown your disdain to the Niger Delta people by redefining host communities to include pipeline-bearing pathway communities, in which case states, where pipelines pass through to aid them with the privilege of cheap supplies of Niger Delta petroleum products, could also be entitled to the ridiculous and unacceptable percentages that the legislators are willing to cede to oil-bearing communities. “The long-suffering and oppressed people of the oilbearing communities of Niger Delta are not surprised at the news that the National Assembly finally passed the PIB, albeit the lofty dreams and vaunted expectations of over two decades of legislative dillydally had been dashed. "This unhealthy anti-climax is a predictable end as northern legislators combined with the delusional efforts of IOCs to pass an unjust piece of legislation to deny our people the benefits of the resources in their region. “The kernel of the bill passed is to deny our people commensurate benefits of the resources of our region while using our natural resources to earn profits for everyone other than the oil-bearing communities in the value chain and increasingly fatten the profits of IOC investors who are miles away from our communities. "This also brings to mind some of the assertions by some northerners that while the land belongs to the people of Niger Delta who live on it, whatever is underneath it, belongs to everyone nationally. “This negates the principle 'Quic quid plantatur solo, sosocedit.' which means that something affixed to the land is part of the land. Therefore, whoever owns that piece of land will also own the things attached to the land. That is why in Zamfara State, where gold is mined, the land belongs to the state, as does the minerals underneath it. "But in Niger Delta, the same doesn’t seem to apply; the Federal Government has UNVEILING: Head, Marketing Operations, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Rilwan Yusuf (middle), Dangote Sugar Distributors, Chief Ifeanyi Igbokwe (right) and Sir Chima Ofiaeli, during the unveiling of the Dangote Sugar packaging in Onitsha, Anambra State. Passed PIB satanic, unjust, embarrassing, fraudulent, provocative —Clark •Demands reversal or block IOCs from region •INC, IYC reject 3-5% for host communities, insist on 10% •Mischief makers propagating wrong information —Urhoghide maliciously laid claim to the oil minerals under the land. What double standard. Different rules and laws for different parts of the same country. “The issue of real local content, that is to say, for Niger Deltans in general and the host communities, in particular, to play a major part in the oil industry is something that we consider our inalienable right. "Despite assurances in the past that efforts would be made to prioritise Niger Deltan content, there is very little evidence of it happening in real terms. "During the government of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, it was agreed that when the Federal Government divests of its equity in its JVs with the IOCs, that 10 per cent would be given to the host communities. However, we see no sign of any commitment to this in any of the recent versions of the Petroleum Industry Bill, or any mention of it in any other government bill or policy. Inclusive participation in oil industry, “As part of the Pan Niger-Delta Forum’s, PANDEF, 16 Point Agenda, we demanded inclusive participation in the oil industry, covering issues such as the ownership of oil blocks, marginal fields as well as the boards and personnel of parastatals and agencies such as NNPC and its subsidiaries. Sadly, we are yet to see any real progress in any of these areas and the latest version of the PIB does nothing to address these issues. “Instead, despite us, as the owners of the land wanting to be real equity participants in the oil industry, that is to say, to be owners, shareholders, directors and senior management in Local Oil Companies, International Oil Companies and Oil Contractors, the concept of Host Communities Trust Fund is being imposed upon us. “On good authority, we are aware that hours before the bill was passed, the IOCs, convened the Nigerian co-conspirators in hotels that some of us as stakeholders monitored. And these IOCs were doing what they had done over the years to delay and deny host oil-bearing communities of the 10 per cent minimum percentage that they had demanded. Funding of Frontier Exploration Fund "Meanwhile, an additional 30 percent has been awarded to the funding of the Exploration of Frontier Basins (Frontier Exploration Fund). The newly proposed Upstream Regulator, the commission, has several responsibilities concerning what is referred to as 'Frontier Basins', especially for their exploration. “It is not clear to us where these Frontier Basins currently reside. We the people of Niger Delta would be more than happy if all the regions of Nigeria are to be oil-producing. However, we must be careful to use the resources put at our disposal as judiciously as possible. "Rather than using our country’s funds to exploit its existing resources, we are using our scarce funds on exploring for oil in the North, an exercise that many industry stakeholders have described as 'wasteful', others have labelled 'a wild goose chase' and 'a purely political exploration'.” INC, IYC reject 3- 5% for host communities, insist on 10% The position of the Ijaw ethnic group was made at a joint press conference by the President of INC, Prof Benjamin Okaba, and the President of Ijaw Youth Council, Worldwide, IYC, Peter Igbifa, yesterday, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Okaba queried: “How can one explain the continuous orchestration of injustice by the majority against the minority in the National Assembly? This Greek gift is rejected by the Ijaw people. You cannot continue to rob Peter to pay Paul. "The slashing of the compensation for the host communities to a ridiculous percentage and increasing the percentage on searching for more petroleum reserves in the 'frontier basin', and redefining the meaning of host to include communities, where oil pipelines pass through, is disgusting and provocative. “We reject in its entirety the three percent and five percent provisions as to compensation, the redefinition of host communities and other provisions including the allocation of 30 percent of our oil resources to grope in the dark in the name of exploitation of a paradox of extreme kind that is not in symphony with common sense, equity and good conscience. “As we speak, the Ijaw people are faced with the ironic situations where princes are on foot while servants are riding on horses. What is ours is theirs what is theirs is theirs. We are all witnesses to the double standard displayed by the Federal Government in Zamfara and other parts of the North, where the state governments and individuals are allowed to mine gold deposits in their territories. "But the oil and gas resources in our territory are vested in the Federal Government for the benefit of all. It is not surprising, a member of the House of Representatives years ago was bodacious enough to declare to the world that the oil in Bayelsa State belongs to Jigawa State. “We are constrained to call on the Minister for Petroleum Resources (State), Mr Timipre Sylva, to use this opportunity to inscribe his name in gold and on the sand of posterity by standing firm with his people and against those who have vowed to continuously deny us the control and management of our God-given resources and have shown that the only thing they value about us is our oil and not what we suffer even in extracting these resources from the bowels of our ancestral land.” In his remark, IYC President, Peter Igbifa, called on the Federal Government not to allow the PIB to throw the region into another crisis, warning that the youths may be forced into agitation. Mischief makers bandying wrong information —Urhoghide Urhoghide, said: The PIB does not entertain equity shareholding for the host communities. Rather it has provisions for a percentage of the annual operational cost of the oil companies to which the Senate passed three per cent and the House of Representatives passed five per cent. “At the conference, which will harmonise this, we hope five per cent will be approved in the harmonised version. “Also, the host communities are entitled to all the amount realised as penalty for gas flaring because these communities bear the brunt of such activity and so the money will be used for their well-being. “Now coming back to the issue of the three per cent or five per cent, this has to do with the consideration given to the investors in this industry. As it is today, many investors are not interested in investing in Nigeria because of the high operational cost. “A profound argument has been put forth to substantiate this. It is because of this that we have not had new investments in upstream activities in the last five or more years. The case of Venezuela is a good example. “In the consideration of fiscals as far as the PIB is concerned, we must put all considerations together so that it is a win-win situation for all stakeholders. If we are not competitive in the international space, the investors will certainly look elsewhere to invest and our oil reserves will be underground, even in the face of the foreseeable irrelevance of crude oil where the world is moving in the direction of fossil fuel and renewable energy."
Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2021 — 13 Electricity workers threaten strike over planned sale of TCN :Vanguard News :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 By Victor Ahiuma- Young WORKERS in the nation’s power sector, under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, have served the Federal Government, a notice of strike over planned sale of Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, warning of its threat to Nigeria’s national security among others dangers. Already, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, which had earlier rejected the plan to sell the TUC, had declared operation save TCN from the enemies of Nigeria and full support for the workers’ action. NLC through its President, Ayuba Wabba, called on the National Assembly and other well meaning Nigerians to join forces with labour and stop any attempt to sell TCN to private individuals to the detriment of the Nigerians. Meanwhile, NUEE in a statement, yesterday, by its General Secretary, Joe Ajaero, argued that “leaving the nation’s full power architecture with the proposed privatization of TCN in the hands of private business owners who lack the expertise to own and run critical economic assets, poses serious security risk to the nation as we will be driven by the wimps and caprices of the ‘harvestors.” Ajaero contended that the enemies of Nigeria had once deceived the country to grant about N1.5trillion to the same private individuals the government sold its distribution and generation facilities to at a ridiculous rate of not more than N400 billion. He lamented that almost eight years after the privatization of the power sector, there had not been any visible improvement in terms of power supply, expansion or investments by the new owners of the DisCos and GenCos. NUEE General Secretary fingered the “General Manager(Engineering), GM (Enforcement) and GM (Public Affairs) of Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, as the three key officers working with a few vested interest individuals in the Ministry of Power, who do not understand the concept in power generation, transmission and distribution, to carry out their selfish personal privatization agenda and milk the nation off it’s vital economic assets.'' A BUJA—FORMER Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba and economist, Professor Pat Utomi, have alerted Nigerians of a conspiracy by the ruling powers to perfect the rigging of the 2023 general election through the imposition of an unpopular Electoral Act. The duo expressed concern that the nation’s democracy would be exposed to unprecedented danger should Nigerians fold their arms to allow the National Assembly to pass the toxic document into law. Speaking under the umbrella of the National Consultative Front, NCFront of Leaders of Conscience; which they cochaired Na’Abba and Utomi, they called on all well-meaning Nigerians to come out enmass to challenge ‘’This unacceptable electoral act to be imposed by the National Assembly.’’ In a statement, yesterday, in Abuja, the NCFront, said: “We are compelled to address the Nation again on the new plot of the ruling powers in Nigeria to entrench the rigging of Nigeria’s democratic system through the imposition of an unpopular electoral act ahead of the 2023 elections. “As a concerned Pan Nigerian Platform, the NCFront has decided to undertake broad mobilisation and consultations with national stakeholders and leaders of thought, as it has become incumbent on the Front, as the emergent political third force in the country, to provide the required leadership for the exploited masses of Nigeria appropriately in preventing the electoral sham to be passed for the conduct of the 2023 elections. PRESENTATION: From left: Executive Director, Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ), JD Faiza Abrahams Smith; Prince Ned Nwoko's Media Consultant, Adeniyi Ifetayo Moses and Founder, Nicholas Auto Solution, HRH Dennis Anabel Iseghohimen during the presentation of Certificate on "Becoming Multimedia Journalist" to Adeniyi at IAJ headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa. Electoral law without electronic transmission of results invitation to anarchy — Na’Abba, Utomi, others By Chris Ochayi •Allege it’s plot to rig 2023 elections “For the avoidance of doubt, the said document to be passed as the new Electoral Law for the country does not embrace key concerns and yearnings of Nigerians, which include electronic accreditation using the card reader, electronic counting of votes, electronic transmission of results, electronic collation of results. ‘’These are provisions that Nigerians believe will help overcome and reduce electoral malpractices drastically, while also taking care of electoral violence and intimidation during elections, to the extent of enhancing the credibility and integrity of our electoral system, while boosting public confidence in our elections. ‘’The proposed document to be passed into law by the ruling political powers is regarded by a majority of Nigeria’s political stakeholders as heavily riddled with half measures and loopholes at a time when political office holders nomadically move from one political party to another and still maintain their seats. ‘’This new imposition is unacceptable to us as it is targeted at the rigging the 2023 elections and to put Nigerian democracy in danger. ‘’Therefore, we wish to call on all well-meaning Nigerians to come out enmass to challenge this unacceptable electoral act to be imposed by the national assembly. Akpabio to NASS: Pass PIB for devt of Niger Delta with any percentage MINISTER, Niger Delta Affairs Ministry, Senator Godswill Akpabio has appealed to the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB law and not allow the issue of percentage to be allotted to the oil producing communities to delay its passage, so as to make life meaningful for the people of the Niger Delta region. Akpabio at the Town Hall meeting on the Destruction of Oil Pipelines and Gas infrastructure, organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture in Abuja, yesterday, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Jackson Udom, said: “Let me appeal to my former colleagues in the National Assembly to pass the PIB into law, so that the people of the region will begin to have a new lease of life. “Let them not allow the argument on the percentage delay the passage of the bill. Whatever you agree on, we will accept. At least, let us start from somewhere. “It is not the percentage that matters. The bill has been there for over 20 years. I am speaking for the Niger Delta people. Let them not use the issue of percentage to delay the passage. No matter the percentage approved, we will accept it, whether three, four or even five percent. If they use it well, we can go back to demand for an increase. “I want the people of the Niger One dies, two injured as gas explosion rocks Ogun By James Ogunnaike ONE person was confirmed dead, while two others were seriously injured in Ijebu- Ode, Ijebu Ode Local Government Area of Ogun State a gas explosion that rocked the town, yesterday. Vanguard gathered that the incident happened on Folagbade Road in Ijebu-Ode, involving a tricycle, three motorcycles and a Honda SUV. An eye witness said the explosion was caused by gas cylinder belonging to one of the passengers of the tricycle. The eye witness explained that the rider of the tricycle that was conveying three occupants parked by the road when the owner of the cylinder discovered that the gas was leaking from the cylinder. He said, the tricycle was parked near a faulty car with a radiator problem. He said: “The owner of the cylinder had just refilled it and unknown to her, the cylinder was leaking. “The rider of the tricycle parked by the side of the road for the woman to fix the leaking cylinder, but unfortunately, there was a car with radiator problem parked nearby. Delta region to begin to see what has not happened before in their life. These are people whose ecosystem and means of livelihood have been destroyed. The people have suffered enough. If they pass the bill, it will change the economic life of the people, their life style will also change, and their living standard will also improve. If the bill is passed this week, I “The heat generated by the car triggered explosion,” he said. He added that the victims who suffered severe burn were rushed to Ijebu-Ode general hospital, but the hospital refused to treat them and they were taken to an unknown hospital. Public Relations Officer of the State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, Mr Merge PIB, Solid Minerals Act if you mean well, NASS told By Egufe Yafugborhi PORT HARCOURT— COALITION of Rivers Oil And Gas Host Communities, CROGHCOM, has asked the National Assembly to merge contentious Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, with the Solid Minerals Act, if Federal Government means well for oil producing communities. CROGHCOM in a statement by its Chairman, Barituka Loanyie said: “The Solid Minerals Act which governs that sector has better protections for the communities hosting extraction sites predominant in the North. It gives explicit right to landlords over their property will be very happy. “I want to see most Niger Delta youths, women, the elders and children, more educated about the environment and more concerned about the environment and refrain from acts of vandalism. Even if they are lured, they will say no, I don’t want to destroy my land because 25 years after, I will be the one suffering from the impact.'' Babatunde Akinbiyi confirmed the accident, saying that the tricycle, three motorcycles and one Honda SUV were burnt. He added that, the occupants of the tricycle also suffered severe burn and were taken to the hospital for treatment. Akinbiyi, however, said he could not ascertain if anyone died in the explosion. and we wonder why it is not same with the PIB. “Having critically studied the PIB recently passed by the NASS, CROGHCOM rejects it for failing to address lingering issues of the oil and gas communities. The bill, rather than solve germane issues in the oil and gas sector ends up compounding them. “The PIB as passed is a mischievous piece of legislation, a far cry from the yearnings of oil and gas host communities which only ends up providing a legal framework for corruption and portends a sinister ploy to continue with the unhealthy denial of host communities the right to their God-given resources.''
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06072021 - We must okay FG's security operations in our states- Southern Govs

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