Petroleum Act: Reps, Stakeholders Seek 6% HostCom Fund

Stakeholders from across the Niger Delta and the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Host Communities and Public Petitions on Wednesday have called for an amendment of the Petroleum Industry Act, (PIA) 2021, to increase the statutory Host Community Development Trust funding from three per cent to six per cent.

They also gave a vote of confidence to Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited and rejected calls to split the company’s pipeline surveillance contract.

The resolutions followed a joint retreat in Owerri Imo State, themed “Strengthening Pipeline Surveillance Through Host Communities Partnership, Accountability and Sustainable Development Under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021,” where participants said HOSTCOM already provided statutory decentralisation and described fresh decentralisation demands as misplaced and driven by private interests.

Recall that the three per cent Host Communities contribution is a statutory payment by oil and gas companies — equal to three per cent of their annual operating expenditure — that must be placed into a Host Community Development Trust (HCDT) to fund local projects and benefits for oil-bearing communities under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021

Participants maintained that the Petroleum Industry Act had already created a framework for decentralised participation of oil-bearing communities through the Host Communities Development Trust structure.

The Joint Committee stated that the existing HOSTCOM provisions under Sections 234 to 258 of the PIA already guarantee legal and operational decentralisation for host communities across the Niger Delta.

The lawmakers subsequently rejected fresh demands for further decentralisation of the surveillance contract currently handled by Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited.

According to the resolutions, promoters of the agitation were pursuing “personal contract interests disguised as community advocacy.”

“All calls for further ‘decentralisation’ of the private security contract are hereby dismissed as baseless and anti-Niger Delta,” the committee stated.

The lawmakers further passed a vote of confidence on Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, commending the firm for its role in protecting critical oil infrastructure and curbing crude oil theft in the Niger Delta.

The retreat noted that Tantita, led by former Niger Delta agitator, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, had contributed significantly to the recovery of Nigeria’s crude oil production and the restoration of peace in oil-producing communities.

“Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, in partnership with NNPCL, has rendered demonstrably effective service in the protection of crude oil pipelines and the recovery of national crude oil production,” the resolutions stated.

The stakeholders and lawmakers therefore called on the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to grant the company a fresh long-term contract extension.

The retreat also endorsed President Bola Tinubu, the NNPCL and the Office of the National Security Adviser for what participants described as sustained efforts to secure Nigeria’s oil assets and stabilise the petroleum sector.

Meanwhile, stakeholders at the retreat shifted focus to what they described as the “real battle” for the Niger Delta — increasing HOSTCOM funding under the Petroleum Industry Act from three per cent to six per cent.

The proposed amendment, according to the lawmakers, would provide more resources for infrastructure, environmental remediation, youth empowerment and sustainable development in oil-producing communities.

Earlier in his keynote address, President of the Association of Environmental Lawyers of Nigeria, Prof. Samuel Chisa Dike, said agitation against Tantita’s surveillance contract was legally misplaced because the arrangement remained a private commercial agreement between the NNPCL and the security firm.

According to him, the HOSTCOM structure established under Chapter Three of the PIA already decentralised benefits to oil-producing communities.

“The HOSTCOM framework is statutory decentralisation. Every Niger Delta community is already captured by force of law. But the Tantita contract is private, contractual, and governed by the doctrine of privity of contract,” Dike said.

He argued that no host community or pressure group had the legal authority to demand the redistribution or cancellation of the surveillance contract.

Dike also defended Tantita’s operations, saying the firm had helped Nigeria recover from massive crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

According to him, Nigeria’s crude oil production had risen from below 1.2 million barrels per day before Tantita’s engagement in 2022 to over 1.7 million barrels per day.

The legal scholar urged lawmakers and stakeholders to concentrate on securing a legislative amendment to raise HOSTCOM funding to six per cent.

“This is what our people should march for. This is what should dominate public discourse. Not who gets a share of a private surveillance contract, but how every host community can secure double statutory funding by law,” he said.