By Eberechi Obinagwam,
The Port Harcourt Zone of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), has demanded that states facing insecurity challenges should be empowered with the necessary legislation to enable them to take charge of security matters in their domain.
A statement released by PH Zonal Chairman, Comrade Peter Chukwudi Onita states that the era of centralized policing should be done away with. He advocated for state police, especially in oil-rich communities, to protect the huge investments in oil and gas infrastructure.
The chairman while making the demand sounded a note of warning over the rising insecurity in the zone, saying the development if not checked and curtailed may have a devastating effect on the socio-economic well-being of the Nation, which he said will hurt the nation.
In the statement, he disclosed that the Zone which harbours some major oil and gas producing states in the country such as Rivers, Bayelsa, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Anambra, Enugu, and the Ebonyi States are seriously under one form of security threats or the other, which the Association reckons is a bad call to any meaningful development, especially with the commencement of the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery valued at $1.5billion.
That the Zone also accounts for a large chunk of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector representing about 85 per cent of government revenues.
That the total revenue flow to the Federation, other tiers of government, and sub-national entities from all sources (including crude oil sales, taxes, royalties, and other incomes) came to USD 32.6 billion 2018.
However, he warned that as the Zone with the resources, the current state of affairs in kidnapping for ransom, attacks on security agencies especially the Nigeria Police and the rise of militia and ragtag armies if allowed to persist may have dire consequences and threats to food and economic security as well as the life of the citizens of not only the states under the Zone but to the entire Nation.
Also, he called on investors and management in the oil and gas to disregard the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the sector and safe guide the workers in the industry against COVID-19 instigated redundancies, wage reduction, and arbitrary dismissal.
But, rather, encouragement should focus on opening new frontiers that will harness the abundant natural gas resources in the Zone, the ninth-largest in terms of global gas reserves with over 200 Tcf, as well as the establishment of Modular refineries and training facilities for the youth in the oil-bearing communities as a way to fighting the rising waves criminalities and other social vices.
