Buhari’s signing of PIB despite outcry in Niger Delta callous – PANDEF

The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has rejected the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) passed by the National Assembly.

President Muhammadu Buhari signed the PIB on Monday.

People of the Niger Delta had rejected the three percent approved for oil-producing communities and other provisions in the PIB.

In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson, the group said the people of Niger Delta would make public their position on the President’s action after full consultations by stakeholders in the region.

The statement read: “The Niger Delta people will speak, shortly, after full consultations, on this callous act, on the best legal and political response.

READ ALSO: Buhari signs PIB into law, despite agitations of host communities

“It is quite unfortunate that President Muhammadu Buhari went ahead to assent to the Petroleum Industry Bill despite the overwhelming outcry and condemnation that greeted its passage by the National Assembly, especially with regards to the paltry three percent provision for the Host Communities Development Trust Fund and the brazen appropriation of an outrageous 30 percent of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited profit for a dubious, nebulous Frontier Oil Exploration Fund.

“This assent by President Buhari simply speaks to the repugnant attitude of disregard, propelled by arrogance, disdain, and contempt with which issues concerning the Niger Delta region are treated, particularly by the present administration.

“What this Act signifies is an unequivocal message to the Niger Delta people that how they feel and what they say, do not count, at all, in the schemes of the Nigerian project.

“That it is insensitive, abominable, and a far every boundary of proper democratic practice and, therefore, unacceptable to the good people of the Niger Delta, the critical economic nexus of the entire Nigerian territory.”

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