September 15, (THEWILL) – The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has rescinded its earlier decision rejecting the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
The Council has also called for a review of the composition of the Host Community Development Trust prescribed by the PIA to manage the three per cent revenue allotted to host communities.
The Council in a statement issued on Wednesday in Yenagoa by its Spokesman, Ebilade Ekerefe, said that the IYC rescinded its decision “after several deliberations with stakeholders, including political leaders, youth bodies, women and civil society groups.”
He said checks by the IYC indicated that chapter three of the PIA establishing the host community development trust and its composition did not specify the inclusion of stakeholders from host communities.
The statement reads: “The IYC is calling for a review of the composition and management of the Host Community Development Trust to include representatives of the state governments, local governments, youths and women from the host communities.
“The importance of the inclusion of these stakeholders cannot be overemphasized. The state and local governments have played a major role in ensuring peace in the region that was not breached.
“They have served as Chief Security Officers of their domains and worked with the youths, women and traditional rulers to sustain the existing peace in the host communities and outside. Their inclusion will further deepen the peace, and lead to pragmatic development of the host communities.”
The IYC, therefore, urged Sylva to heed the call for a town hall meeting with the Niger Delta people on the provisions of the PIA and its implications for the region.
THEWILL recall that IYC had in August, rejected the PIA and declared that President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, were no longer welcomed in the Niger Delta as a result of their roles in the passage and signing of the bill into law.
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