By Uzor Odigbo
Former president of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Comrade Eric Omare has said that the poor stake of host communities which amounts to a paltry 3 per cent will defeat the essence of the bill if signed as passed by the senate
He said the bill as passed will not meet the yearnings and expectations of the law if it is not properly refocused at the harmonisation level before presidential assent.
According to him, under former President Goodluck Jonathan, ten per cent was proposed as a stake of oil communities which took a lot of persuasions and convincing to be reduced to five per cent.
Omare added that the bill was proposed among other reasons to address concerns and agitations by members of oil-producing communities.
While describing the bill as an instrument intended to open up the country’s oil and gas industry for investment with a peaceful relationship between the oil companies and communities, Omare said these can’t be achieved with the Senate version.
He described the senate version as fallout of an attempt by one section of the country to always achieve its desires and treating other section unfairly as an initially proposed and unpopular ten per cent for exploration was surprisingly increased to thirty per cent