Niger Delta
PANDEF, HOSTCOM, Others Berate Kyari
Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF); Host Communities of Nigeria (HOSTCOM), and other stakeholders of Niger Delta, recently, disagreed with Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Kele Kyari, over his claim that three per cent for Host Communities Trust Fund was higher than 30 per cent for exploration on Frontier Basin in the new Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
PANDEF’s National Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson, said: “The statement by Mr Kyari, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, that the three per cent provision for the Host Communities Development Trust in the Petroleum Industry Act is higher than the 30 per cent allocation for Frontier Exploration, is absurd and presumptuous.
According to PANDEF, “How can anyone make such an irrational comparison? It is adding insult to injury, to say the least.
“Oil and gas host communities in Niger Delta bear the brunt of the industry operations. With colossal adverse effects on the region’s hitherto luxurious ecosystem; the indigenous people’s means of livelihood have been grossly degraded, with little, if any, improvement in their standard of living.
“And so, it is awful for anyone to compare, for any reason, the paltry three per cent provision for the Host Communities Trust Fund to the humongous 30 per cent allocation for the nebulous Frontier Exploration Fund. It is baseless and makes no sense.
“Kyari’s expression reflects the uncouth contempt and injustice being carried out against Niger Delta. The nation cannot continue in this trajectory.”
National President, HOSTCOM, Chief Benjamin-Style Tamaranebi, who reacted to the controversy, said: “We keep hearing from Minister of State (Petroleum) and GMD, NNPC, that 30 per cent NNPC profit is lesser than three per cent Host Communities’ operating cost.
“GMD Kyari Mele is entitled to his opinion because we are not privileged to what is happening in the corporation and it is like a cook, who went out to the market to get foodstuff and prepare a meal for guests, the guests only know what was placed before them.
Pere (traditional ruler) of Seimbiri Kingdom in Delta State and former national chairman, Traditional Rulers of Oil Minerals Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON, Charles Ayemi-Botu, said: “That is arrant nonsense. Kyari should go and tell that to the marines or to Musa. By the way, what is the rationale in making such arrogant statement? No person in his true sense of reason will make such a ridiculous, unguarded and blasphemous statement.
“He should hide his head in shame, for the opportunity in becoming the Group Managing Director of NNPC without knowing the difference between three per cent and 30 per cent. He may best be described as a round peg in a square hole. We are in government of nepotism and winner takes all syndrome.
“Kyari did not expatiate on the details that informed such unguarded, erratic and stupid statement. Host communities are requesting nothing less than 10 per cent allocation to assuage the age long ecological degradation/devastation, environmental hazards, pollution of our only source of livelihood, our ecosystem has been totally destroyed, acid rains as well as the depletion of the ozone layers bring diseases, culminating in infant mortality/premature death, etc.”
An indigene of oil and gas rich, but neglected Oluasiri clan in Nembe LGA of Bayelsa, Iniruo Wills, said: “That is an utterly irrelevant comparison. It is a mechanical attempt at diverting attention from the gross injustice of treating communities as a nuisance factor.
“The real question is how does three per cent of mere operational expenses compare with the 10 per cent equity originally proposed at the beginning of the PIB journey or with the 10 per cent of profits that it was first watered down to by then President Jonathan and oil minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, before Bukola Saraki’s National Assembly later cannibalised it down to 2.5 per cent of profits, setting the stage for the current crop of executives and legislators to do this final havoc”.
Coordinator, Niger Delta Peace Coalition, Zik Gbemre, said: “The comparison is immaterial, a meaningful distraction. It is extreme corruption for government to fund oil and gas prospecting. That is the reality Kyari would not mention”.
National president, Vanguard for Transparent Leadership and Accountability (VATLAD), Mr Emmanuel Igbini, declared: “From my deep knowledge of the Nigerian upstream petroleum sector, I know that data and figures thrown at Nigerians by the International Oil Companies, IOCs, are not credible at all.”
Minority rights activist, Eric Omare, said: “I do not have the statistics as per the total yearly operational cost of oil operations in Nigeria and the NNPC yearly profit on oil. However, the key point in the GMD’s comment, which is correct is that the criteria for arriving at the Host Communities Trust Fund and the Frontier Areas Fund are not same”.
John Okodi-Iyah, an engineering consultant in Akwa Ibom State, said the NNPC boss was economical with the truth.
“They can deceive some of the people sometime or all the time, but not all the people, all the time,” he said.
Dufugha, however, expressed resentment over what he described as stringent measures against assessing the State’s Students Loan Scheme, especially for the common citizens.
He made the observations while briefing journalists at the Earliest Ikoli Press Centre, Ekeki, in Yenagoa, the State capital.
“I commend the Governor for the relative peace in the state owing to his approach to the security of lives and properties in the State.
“For now, the police in Bayelsa State is using drones to monitor red flag areas that can cause security breaches and that has really encouraged the peace in the State.
“The security situation has improved and we commend the government for that. We cannot deny the fact that there is relative peace in the State”, he said.
On the State’s students loan, the publisher accused the scheme of having elitist posture due to its accessibility process.
He argued that it would be difficult for the ordinary Bayelsan to provide a Level-17 civil servant as guarantor to be able to benefit from the scheme, describing it as a systemic denial of the less privileged.
He noted that the loan was supposed to be a succour to indigent Bayelsa parents and students who could not assess education easily, noting that such persons should not be made to face cumbersome situations before assessing the financial instrument.
On road infrastructure, the Niger Delta Herald Publisher and Editor-in-chief praised the Diri’s administration on the work done on the three senatorial district roads and tasked the government to do more.
Dufugha, who described Bayelsa State as a wealthy State, asserted that the oil rich state needed to see more developmental strides comparative to its current financial status.
“Bayelsa is not a poor state in terms of public revenue. We’re an oil producing state. We receive federal allocations. We receive derivation revenue. We have access to enormous public resources.
“We receive interventions. Yet, after all these years, the ordinary citizen is still asking, what exactly are we getting for our money? Where are the industries? Where are the jobs? Where are the functional health institutions? Where is the agricultural transformation? Where is the human capital development? Where is the economic diversification?,” he argued.
He enjoined the government to redouble effort in the education and health subsectors, adding that it would pay the state a lot if there were centres for the treatment of critical health cases such as cancer and others in order to save lives and avoid capital flight.
The Publisher urged the Senator Diri-led government and the public not to misunderstand his message as hatred or personal issues with the Governor, but see it as a constitutional and professional duty to hold government accountable.
By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa
Deputy Governor of the State, Dr. Peter Akpe, stated this rexently when he received the Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in ernment House, Yenagoa.
charge of Bayelsa and Rivers States, during a courtesy visit to Government House, Yenagoa.
Akpe said the general perception of those in politics has always been that of corruption, but noted that the position of the Douye Diri-led Prosperity Administration is non-tolerance for corruption.
Akpe, who frowned at the habit of writing unfounded petitions against individuals and groups, said the heap of petition files from Bayelsa State at the ICPC was several times higher than that from any other state in the country.
He reminded residents that writing unjustifiable petitions to anti-graft agencies is not only a bad culture, but also attracts jail penalty, and assured the ICPC of the state government’s support to improve public enlightenment.
“Our government is a government that believes in zero tolerance for corruption; that is why we are always open to interact with you and other anti-graft agencies.
“Usually, there is this issue of negative perception of politics and politicians. But it is not true that every politician is corrupt. We have a good number of people in politics that are not corrupt, and we believe that a good percentage of them are in this government.
“The issue of petitions at the ICPC: What we observed was that the heap of files from Bayelsa were 10 times higher than the ones from even Lagos, and 15 more times than the ones from Sokoto and other states.
“That is quite disturbing. More so, most of those petitions were ion, our people should also know that such frivolous petitions can land them in jail”, he saidfrivolous.
From a personal experience, I can tell you that most of the petitions are extremely frivolous. While we will never tolerate corruption, our people should also know that such frivolous petitions can land them in jail”, he said.
Earlier in her remarks, the ICPC Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner in charge of Rivers and Bayelsa States, Dr. Ekere Usiere, highlighted the statutory mandate of the ICPC, stressing that its mission was to carry out sensitisation on the ills of corruption in the Nigerian society.
Usiere, who expressed concern at the volume of petitions currently before the ICPC emanating from communities in Bayelsa over the management of the PIA funds, expressed the commission’s desire to partner the Bayelsa State Ministry of Information to carry out sensitisation programmes.
The ICPC Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner was accompanied on the visit by Assistant Chief Superintendent, Mr. Evans Peters; Principal Superintendent, Mr. Emmanuel Akpor; Assistant Superintendent, Mrs. Tamaraudoubra Ebebi; and the Administrative Officer, Mr. Frank Yileaziba.
By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa
The Director of Administration and Human Resources, Sir Kelechi Nwelue, gave the advice during a commission-wide staff interactive session with Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and insurance companies at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
In a statement signed and issued by Seledi Thompson-Wakama
Director, Corporate Affairs, Nwelue said the programme, approved by the Managing Director of the commission, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, was organised to sensitise staff on pension schemes and provide them with the knowledge required to make informed decisions about their retirement savings.
He particularly urged newly recruited employees to acquaint themselves with the operations and responsibilities of various PFAs before choosing an administrator to manage their pension contributions.
According to him, pension contributions deducted from employees’ salaries, alongside employers’ contributions, constitute long-term savings designed to provide financial support after retirement.
He urged staff to carefully assess the information provided by the participating pension administrators and choose the option best suited to their long-term financial interests.
Nwelue stressed that employees were at liberty to select their preferred pension administrator, noting that the interactive session provided an opportunity for the various companies to explain their products, services and benefits.
Also speaking, a Director in the Directorate of Administration and Human Resources, Mr. James Fole, said the programme was aimed at deepening employees’ understanding of pension, insurance and other financial instruments that could improve their financial wellbeing during and after active service.
Fole warned that inadequate preparation for retirement could expose employees to financial hardship in their post-service years.
He said: “That is not what the Managing Director, Executive Management and the entire management want for our staff. We want to see a situation where retirees enjoy a reasonable level of comfort, knowing that the Commission has contributed to their future.”
He added that equipping employees with appropriate financial knowledge while they were still in active service remained critical to achieving a financially secure retirement.
Several pension and insurance companies participated in the interactive session.
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