PIA: Niger Delta should use 3% well before asking for more, says amnesty programme coordinator

Milland Dikio, interim administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), has urged the people of Niger Delta to focus on using the three percent allocated in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) before asking for more.

Dikio said this at the 50th anniversary award night of the Port Harcourt Polo Club, according to a statement issued on Sunday by Nneotabase Egbe, his spokesperson.

In August 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) 2021 into law — the legislation allocates 3% of operating expenditure of oil firms to host communities.

Several stakeholders including Seriake Dickson, senator representing Bayelsa west; Douye Diri, governor of Bayelsa state; and Edwin Clark, an Ijaw national leader, have argued that the three percent is unacceptable.

At the public hearing on the bill, representatives of the host communities had demanded that they be allocated 10 percent.

Speaking on the development, Dikio urged the people of the Niger Delta to stop bickering over the percentage, adding that opportunities would be created for future negotiation.

“I will say that instead of quarrelling about the percentage, we should be talking about what to do with the percentage we got, build on it and we can have another discussion after that,” Dikio was quoted as saying.

According to NAN, Dikio also applauded the move by Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, to clamp down on illegal refining site operators in the state.

“I commend the Rivers state governor, Wike, for taking on the issue of illegal oil refineries also known as Kpofire head on,” he said.

“But a lot of work still needs to be done. Kpofire is not the only pollutant and so individually and collectively, what are we doing, especially the corporate entities, to reduce unwanted emissions into our environment?”