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Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark angry over provisions of PIB
By Anthony Maliki
The National leader of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief (Dr) Edwin Kiagbodo Clark has descended heavily on the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila over the passing of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) saying people of the Niger Delta have expressed great displeasure over the satanic and obnoxious allocation of a paltry percentage of Operating Expenditure to Oil Producing Communities by the National Assembly.
Chief Clark who is also National Leader, South-South Region stated this in an open letter to the Senate President and Speaker read at a press conference in Abuja on Monday.
The letter was read at the press conference by Ken Robinson, National Publicity Secretary of PANDEF on behalf of Chief Clark.
“Mr. Senate President, the Right Honourable Speaker and some of your colleagues in the National Assembly, have further shown your disdain to the Niger Delta people by redefining host communities to include pipeline-bearing pathway communities, in which case States where pipelines pass through to aid them with the privilege of cheap supplies of Niger Delta petroleum products could also be entitled to the ridiculous and unacceptable percentages that the legislators are willing to cede to oil-bearing Communities,” he stressed.
National Publicity Secretary, PANDEF, Ken Robinson, left, read the letter on behalf of Chief Clark
According to the Elder Statesman, the passing of the PIB was an unhealthy anti-climax as a predictable end as northern Legislators combined with the dilutional efforts of International Oil Companies (IOCs) to pass an unjust piece of legislation to deny the Niger-Delta people the benefits of the resources in their region.
He said the “kernel of the Bill passed is to deny our people commensurate benefits of the resources of our region while using our natural resources to earn profits for everyone other than the Oil-Bearing Communities in the value chain and increasingly fatten the profits of IOC investors who are miles away from our communities.”
Chief Clark pointed out that given the depth of ingratitude expressed and delivered after decades of exploitation and neglect of the region, the entire people of the Niger Delta region vehemently reject some aspects of the bill. These are the 3 per cent and 5 per cent of Operating Expenditure granted to the Host Communities and the fraudulent and provocative 30 per cent provision for the Frontier Exploration Fund.
It demanded the PIB must be reversed, reviewed and amended to ensure that the Oil-Bearing Communities must now receive not less than 10 per cent of Operating Cost.
He said if this is not done, the Niger Delta people may be forced to take their destiny into their own hands and all IOCs may find themselves denied access to their oil activities in such communities.
Chief Clark also explained that the Niger-Delta is aware of the lack luster and conservative attitude of Mr. Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, who is indeed a great obstacle to the smooth running of the country, and to her unity and oneness.
“We wish to advise him strongly that no one can force other Nigerians to be in the so-called united Nigeria where the citizens are not equal, and where some people do not have opportunity to aspire to positions they are qualified to attain. And where Southern Nigerians who are already in Service are being replaced by Northerners, even when some of the Northerners are being called back from retirement,” the open letter stated. (Read the full open letter at https//apexnewsexclusive.com/elder-statesman-chief-edwin-clark-knocks-national-assembly-leadership-over-pib-in-open-letter/)
