Petroleum Industry Act will bring real and lasting benefits – Buhari tells host communities

Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to host communities to accept the controversial provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). He says it will bring real and lasting benefits.

In his speech on Wednesday August 18, Buhari said the PIA will create a regulatory environment that would ensure efficiency and accountability across the oil and gas value chain and reposition NNPC to a commercially driven National Petroleum Company that is accountable to the Federation.

The bill has an allocation of 3 percent oil companies’ operating expenses for host communities and a 30 percent allocation for oil exploration in frontier basins, mostly in northern states.

“The “Petroleum Industry Act 2021” creates a regulatory environment that would ensure efficiency and accountability across the oil and gas value chain and reposition NNPC to a commercially driven National Petroleum Company that is accountable to the Federation.

“The Act also provides for a direct benefit framework that will enable sustainable development of Host Communities. I appeal to the host communities to look carefully at the contents of the Bill which in the implementation will bring real and lasting benefits to them, the President said

The Nigerian President also appointed Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, to head the Steering Committee that will drive the implementation process. Other members are: Permanent Secretary Ministry of Petroleum Resources; Group Managing Director NNPC; Executive Chairman FIRS; Representative of the Ministry of Justice; Representative of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Natural Resources, Barrister Olufemi Lijadu as External Legal Adviser, while the Executive Secretary, Petroleum Technology Development Fund, will serve as Head of the Coordinating Secretariat and the Implementation Working Group.

The committee was charged with a time frame of 12 months in order to guide the effective and timely implementation of the act and ensure that the new institutions created have the full capability to deliver on their mandate under the new legislation. They are also expected to report periodically to the President.