Niger Delta Congress rejects PIB, says its ‘obnoxious’

The Niger Delta Congress has rejected the newly signed Petroleum Industry Bill, saying it disposses the people of the Niger Delta regions of their lands and the rights to their resources.

President Buhari assented to the bill on Monday, amid several objections from interesy groups in the region.

On July 1, the senate and the house of representatives passed the PIB, allocating 3% and 5% percent respectively to host communities. however , at the public hearing on the bill, representatives of the host communities had demanded that they be allocated 10 percent on the grounds that three percentage is not enough to improve the standard of living of their people.

In a statement signed by the spokesman of the NDC, Barr  Ovunda C.  Eni, and made available to NewsWireNGR on wednesday, the congress expressed their dissastisfaction with the bill and called for it’s rejection.

The statement reads;

”The  Petroleum  Industry  Act  recently  signed  into  law  by  President  Muhammadu Buhari  does  not  come  as  a  surprise  to  the  Niger  Delta  Congress.  It  would  be incredulous  for  anyone  to  think  that  the  different  ethnic  nationalities  of  the Niger  Delta  will  assent  to  a  legislation  whose  very  first  clause  dispossesses  the people  of  their  rights  to  their  resources  and  by  extension,  lands. 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  we  believe  it  will  be  a  total  waste  of  time  discussing  the contents  of  the  Petroleum  Industry  Act.  Nonetheless,  we  appreciate  the revelations  on  the  obvious  tyranny  and  lack  of  empathy  by  the  majorities  for the  region,  and  also  the  indolent  roles  played  by  the  political  leaders  of  the Niger  Delta  region  in  the  preparation  and  eventual  passage  of  this  bill  into  Law. 

Consequently,  the  NDC  urges  all  the  various  ethnic  nationalities  of  the  region to  reject  this  obnoxious  law  and  immediately  call  for  a  total  restructuring  of this  country  and  ensure  we  protect  what  is  rightfully  ours. 

We  also  use  this  medium  to  call  on  all  peoples  of  the  Niger  Delta  to  make themselves  available  for  the  Niger  Delta  Peoples  Conference  holding  on  the  8th and  9th  of  October,  2021  in  Bayelsa  State,  Nigeria.”