Reps begin review of oil companies, host communities GMoUs

The House of Representatives has mandated the Committees on Treaties, Protocols, and Agreements, and Petroleum Resources (Upstream) to review all the Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding between the Oil Companies and the host communities in order to protect the interest of host communities and report back within eight (8) weeks for further legislative action.

This was sequel to a motion on: ‘Holistic Review of all Agreements between Oil Companies in Nigeria and Host Communities, moved by Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta) during plenary on Wednesday.

Ossai in his presentation of the motion noted that the execution of Agreements between Oil Companies in Nigeria and their host communities is a form of Corporate Social Responsibility.

According to him, the House also noted that such strategic business management and corporate governance initiative is designed to balance the responsibility of stakeholders at all levels and produce greater impact on a wide number of people.

He said the House observed that “most of the agreements are either partially implemented or completely not implemented by the Oil companies, resulting in untold hardships on the host Communities in Nigeria”.

The lawmaker further said the House was: “worried that the continued breach of such agreements and underperformance by Oil Companies have built up dis-affection, restiveness, and tension in the oil-producing communities in Nigeria.

Ossai concluded that the House was; “cognizant that a holistic review of all agreements executed and entered into by Oil Companies with the host Communities will resolve all problems and provide a lasting solution to the poor implementation of Agreements by Oil Companies”.