HOSTCOM Tasks FG On Oil Blocks’ Allocation

A body known as the Host Communities Of Nigeria  Producing Oil and Gas (HOSTCOM) has stated that the pursuit of the rights of the people of oil and gas host communities will continue to be its top priority.
National Chairman of the body, Dr Mike Emuh who disclosed this in Port Harcourt, recently said  the Federal Government should allocate oil blocks to indigenes of the Niger Delta region, noting that such operational rights will give the people of the host communities a sense of active participation in the oil and gas industry as well as address the issues of underdevelopement in the Niger Delta.
The chairman said the body  will remain committed to the agitation of the denied rights of the people as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution as amended.
He decried a situation where the leaders of the Niger Delta were conspicuously denied ownership of oil blocks, while billions of dollars are being carted away from the region.
Emuh also said that the body was agitating for the control of pipeline surveillance in the Niger Delta, noting that HOSTCOM was working with the federal government to ensure that peace reign in the Niger Delta region.
He added that only the presence of peace in the region can attract direct foreign investment and bring sustainable development in the area.
“The presence of gun boats will scare people. Road blocks will scare foreign investors and technical partners. HOSTCOM is creating the enabling environment for relative peace and development to reign in the Niger Delta.
He called on the federal government to live up to the agreement it signed with the body which include,the payment of gas flare penalty levy directly to HOSTCOM, allocation of  Oil pipeline surveillance contract to HOSTCOM with every community mandated to secure the pipelines passing through its territory, payment of 13 percent derivation to the host communities and the issuing of licences for  modular refineries and gas plants to the host communities.
He regretted that the peace accord signed with the federal government is yet to yield expected dividends through the provision of jobs and economic empowerment of the teeming youths of  the region.
The  HOSTCOM national chairman appealled to President Muhammadu  Buhari to give priority attention to the development of the Niger Delta in the  interest of equity in Nigeria, noting that  the region has contributed so much for the development of the country.
He called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the development of the Niger Delta by embarking on massive infrastructural and human capacity development in the area.

Taneh Beemene