By David Owei, Bayelsa

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri has again called on the National Assembly to review the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), to enable state governments in oil producing areas play statutory roles in overseeing development projects in host communities.

Senator Diri who was represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, made the call on Wednesday at this year’s edition of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunities Fair, (NOGOF), at the Local Content Towers in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Officials of NOGz

NOGCF officials

He noted that while the extant PIA empowers oil and gas bearing communities to directly receive oil proceeds accruing to them without recourse to state governments, hostilities emanating from the management of such funds were always being channeled to government for settlement.

According to the Bayelsa Chief Executive, bringing governments of oil bearing states on board will do a whole lot of good in the planning and implementation of community development projects because most of the communities lack the capacity to deal with such investments.

His words: “The current PIA does not give any responsibility to the state government but rather a lot of liabilities. When the IOCs bypass the state government and deal directly with our communities which unfortunately do not have stable and reliable structures to handle such investments, it gives room for hostilities.

“Our call is on the National Assembly to look at the possibility of rejigging the PIA to prescribe statutory roles for host governments. Also, the attitude of the IOCs is not different from the indigenous oil firms that have taken over their assets.”

Senator Diri equally expressed displeasure over the exclusion of host governments in the Shell Petroleum Development Company and Agip Oil Company’s divestment of their shares, despite its operations for over 70 years in the Niger Delta.

He said when the oil firms were divesting their shares, the state government made efforts for some shares to be allocated to it but to no avail, stressing that attitude of some of the indigenous firms that bought over the shares had not change from their predecessors in terms of lack of best operational practices.

“I say this in respect to the divestment process of Shell and Agip Oil Company. Bayelsa Government made concerted efforts that a little bit of those shares be allocated to us as a state where they have operated for over 70 years, but we were not considered.”

Commenting on the theme of NOGOF, “Driving Investment and Production Growth: Shaping Sustainable Future For Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Through Indigenous Capacity Development,” Senator Diri commended the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board for the initiative.

He, however, urged the Local Content Board to take a retrospective look at its past and present achievements and make projections into the future particularly in areas of enhancing local capacity for the youths.

“This year’s theme is quite challenging, striking and conscious. While we align ourselves with this theme and aspirations there are a few interrogations that we need to put forward.

“What capacity are we building and whose capacity are we building? Where are we with it now and where we ought to be, because there’s no way you can move forward without taking a retrospective look into your achievements, challenges and prospects”

The governor also drew attention of the Local Content to the fact that Bayelsa was being shortchanged in the situation where it does not benefit from the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas despite providing 60 percent of its feed stock.

Also speaking, the Chairman, Federal House Committee on Local Content Development, Hon. Boma Goodhead, assured that the committee would continue to enact laws and ensure beneficial legislative oversight to promote productivity in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

She, however, pointed out that ” local content is not just about the number of Nigerians in the industry, but about in-country value addition with a greater part of industry value chain done in Nigeria.”

On his part, the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, described NOGOF as not just a fair but a national platform that fosters catalytic investment opportunities cutting across the upstream, midstream and downstream areas of the Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

He called on all participants of the 2-day event to go beyond conversations by initiating partnership and investment decisions that will shape the narrative of the industry.

The Executive Secretary of the National Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr Felix Omatsola Ogbe, highlighted the significance of NOGOF 2025, saying it coincides with 15 years of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010.

According to him, the event will showcase opportunities in the entire oil and gas value chain as well as enable local and foreign investors build synergies in the industry and provide shareholders with credible information on upcoming projects.

In a goodwill message, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Mrs Olu Verheijen, said the current federal government was building an energy sector to benefit every Nigerian by driving industrialization and creation of sustainable jobs.

By George Mgbeleke
External Auditors to the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited ( NNPCL) and National Petroleum Investment Management Services ( NAPIMS) on Tuesday tackled the Senate Committee on Public Accounts over their appearance before it .

The Senate committee had on the strength of queries raised in audit reports of the affected agencies before 2023 invited their external auditors to appear before it .

But the external auditors through a letter from their solicitor , Afe Babalola & Co, informed the committee that issues relating to the audit reports are already litigated against by aggrieved parties and will be subjudice for them to appear before the committee .

Dissatisfied with the reason given by the external auditors , the Committee in a counter letter dated 15th May , 2025 , ordered the external auditors to appear before it on Tuesday, 20th May , 2025 unfailingly.

The committee in the letter titled :” Re : Special Legislative Inquiry on the External Auditors to NNPCL and NAPIMS ” among others , told the external auditors that the scope of its work goes beyond the case before the court.

“That the Committee still stands on not being a party to any case that is between the External Auditors or the Court and cannot be sub-judice.

“That the external auditors have a duty of full disclosure of the claim in court, by furnishing the Committee of the Court process, so as to determine the involvement of the National Assembly or the Senate to the case on the subject of Sub-jucice.

“Arising from the foregoing, the External Auditors to NNPCL and NAPIMS are advised to honor the appointment of 20 May, 2025 as earlier acknowledged, else the Committee would explore its Power to compel attendance”.

However at the session on Tuesday , none of the external auditors appeared before the committee but represented by one of their solicitors , Oyetola Muyiwa Atoyebi ( SAN) who was not allowed to make any submission .

Atoyebi who later spoke to journalists , said the external auditors couldn’t appear before the committee to avoid subjudice .

“The committee had earlier been informed that the external auditors would not appear before it because issues to be deliberated upon are already in court and would amount to subjudice on their part to make any submissions on them .

” It is even subjudice for the committee itself to be holding session on issues being litigated against in the court of law “, he said .