By Barikui Felix
Worried by the inability of host communities to access the 3% derivation fund as provided for by the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, a civil society organisation, Connected Development (CODE) has held a one-day capacity building programme for host community members in Rivers State.
The programme which is part of the five year “Power of Voices in Partnership” initiative sponsored by OXFARM was aimed at building the capacity of host community members on best methods to engage oil companies operating in their domain and the regulatory agency, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for easy access their funds.
CODE noted the ambiguous nature of the PIA, as preventing most communities were finding it difficult to set up their boards and applying for their funds as reason for the capacity building.
Rivers State Supporter of CODE, Charles Uffort, while speaking during the training in Port Harcourt, accused oil companies of taking advantage of the ignorance of the host communities to influence the PIA implementation process especially as it has to do with host communities funds.
He said most multinationals were still dealing with the communities on the basis of the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU) which he said are no longer operational with the coming of the PIA.
Uffort also accused Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) of not doing enough to drive the process as regulators of the PIA.
“We noticed that so many persons don’t understand the implications of the PIA and the regulatory body- NUPRC is also not helping matters because they are regulating the PIA which is why many communities now fall back to the civil societies to give them the lead and that’s why we have been organizing town hall meetings, trainings, dialogues and focal group discussions with the community members to highlight most of the key points including how to inaugurate their boards, advisory committees and others to be able to access their funds,” he said.
“Also, the oil companies operating in the communities are the ones worsening the situation because they are not adhering to the PIA and that’s why we are engaging community members at all levels to build their capacity on the best approach to engage the oil companies in their communities,” he added.
Uffort called for the domestication of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) especially here in Rivers State to enable citizens and host communities know the budgetary allocation for projects in their communities.
“Our call now is to ask the community members and the state to make sure all the states including the Federal Capital Territory, domesticates the law.
“Some state have domesticated it while some have not including Rivers State so we are asking citizens of the state to join their voices in calling on the government to make sure that it’s domesticated,” he stated.
In his presentation on how HCDTs can leverage media platforms to tell their stories, Dr Augustine Okere, Lead, Research Unit of CODE, said it is important for host communities to take advantage of
the media to amplify their voices and to also press home whatever demands they have.
He acknowledged that some HCDTs were actually utilizing the funds maximally but urged that their works be amplified for better appraisal.
Okere pointed out the need for the HCDTs to tell more of their stories, saying the more they tell their stories, the more people will know about it.
“What we have done now is to nodge the communities and HCDTs to start thinking from the perspective of amplifying their voices using strategies within the media including social and conventional media
“Another aspect of it is in terms of projecting what HCDTs are doing within the communities as provided for by the PIA. Some HCDTs are doing well and there is need to amplify some of the good works they are doing,” Okere noted.
He advocated for the amendment of the PIA, noting that four years down the line since its operationalization, there have been identifiable loopholes and the need to address them.
He said communities and oil companies should be given the opportunity to analyse how effective the law has been and suggest ways of improving it.
“Its a good law, it’s a good ground to improve on community development as well as community relations with oil companies. But then there is need for us to start thinking about what are the gaps? What are the challenges? How can we improve on them and make it better? These are the areas we should start considering,” he explained.
In her contribution, a stakeholder, Dr Sophia Daniels who is the Deputy Director, Professor Onuchukwu Centre For Peace and Conflict Studies, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, IAUE, said it is important for community members to know how to maximise the various media platforms in such a way that it doesn’t bring aggression.
“It is very important for community-based people to understand the use of the media in storytelling and how they would advocate for development for their different communities in a more diplomatic way which wouldn’t bring any form of aggression to whoever they want to draw their attention to,” she added.
Others at the event called for more collaborative efforts between the communities, civil societies and the media in storytelling for development.
