RVHA Seeks Amendment Of NDDC, Local Content Acts

The Rivers State House of Assembly, has picked holes in the Act establishing Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), as it has called for the review of the local content law as well.

Speaking at the Port Harcourt oil and gas international conference and exhibition last week, Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Rt Hon Otelemaba Amachree said both laws fell short of the current need of the Niger Delta people.

Rt Hon Amachree who spoke through his deputy, Hon Leyii Kwane remarked that the NDDC Act had short-changed the people and needed to be reviewed to meet the demand of the moment.

The Rivers State House of Assembly Speaker submitted that the local content law also required fine-tuning in order to reflect the present challenges in the sector.

He promised that the state Assembly would liaise with the National Assembly to review the NDDC Act, stressing that every piece of legislation must reflect the yearnings of the people.

The Speaker while frowning at the poor level of operations at the oil and gas free zone in Onne blamed most of the oil companies for failing to exploit the potentials of the agency.

Rt Hon Amachree stated that the oil and gas free zone was established by the Federal Government to drive investments and growth of the sector, but lamented that over the years, the area had remained comatose due to abuse of the law setting up the body.

He called on the Managing Director of the Oil/Gas Free Zone to liaise with the Assembly towards achieving optimal use of the facility, saying the area was under-utilised.

Commenting on the issue of gas flaring, Rt. Hon. Amachree said, “there is no piece of legislation that this Assembly has not implemented, but I think the society has a great role to play in the matter”.

He was of the opinion that both the authorities and the citizenry were responsible for the frequent goal-post shifting especially in ending the menace of gas flaring, adding, “we need a lot of sensitisation to compel the international oil companies to stop the pollution. We have heard that the country loses about N2.5billion annually. To me, this is huge and we need to stop it”.

The impressive tartan tracks at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium complex, where the athletics events of the 17th NSF will hold