Group offers to manage 3% equity for N’delta host communities

TO ensure stability in the oilproducing states of the country, the Ethnic Communities Security Operation Department ( ECSOD) has submitted a proposal to the Presidency on the management of Petroleum Host Communities Fund ( PHCF).

The proposal letter with reference No: L& C/ ECSOD/ SAP/ 021/ 4/ 138 dated August 25, 2021 and addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, was signed by ECSOD

Leader and Commander, Prince Emmanuel Oyibo.

In the letter made available to journalists, the group offered to administer and manage the three per cent allocation for host communities, as stipulated in the Petroleum Industry Act ( PIA) 2021.

“We appreciate the President for ensuring that the long- awaited Petroleum Industry Bill ( PIB) is now signed into law.

“We propose that ECSOD should administer and manage 10 per cent of the PHCF, which is now three per cent in the comprehensive dossier with reference No: L& C/ ECSOD/ SAP/ 019/ 3 dated January 31, 2019, the summary of which was also sent to the National Assembly Committee on Petroleum Industry Bill.

“We wish to notify the President that names of representatives of the nine states comprising the Host Community Trust Fund and their names will soon be forwarded to his office,” the letter reads.

The agency, which is involved in grassroots youth integration through conflict resolution in line with the Niger Delta

Regional Development Master Plan ( NDRDMP), had earlier sent a letter with reference n u m b e r : L& C/ ECSOD/ SAP/ NDDC/ 2 dated November 20, 2018 to the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission ( NDDC).

In the letter, it also offered to manage the PHCF and 50 per cent of the 13 per cent oil derivation fund accruing to each state’s oil producing areas commissions from the federation account, based on crude production quantum for each community.