Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State and his Kaduna State counterpart, Ramalan Yero, have kicked against the provision of host communities fund in the Petroleum Industry Bill.

They made their views known in separate presentations during the House of Representatives Ad hoc committee public hearing on the PIB, in Kaduna on Tuesday.

Kwankwaso said the sections dealing with the host communities fund, its purpose and entitlements should be removed.

He also warned members of the National Assembly from the state against “sell out” during the debates.

Kwankwaso said, “This time we will keep our eyes on them.

“The state government recommends that this committee and by extension, the National Assembly should expunge the following sections from the proposed Bill:Sections 116, 117 and 118 respectively.’’

The governor noted that the ownership of petroleum and gas resources were vested in the sovereign state of the Nigeria and not in any region.

He also spoke on oil exploration in the North, saying it was being deliberately sabotaged.

“We would like to state categorically that the issue of oil exploration in Northern Nigeria has been deliberately sabotaged,” he said.

Kwankwaso noted that this had contributed tremendously to the widening gap between the North and the South.

He called for a separate bill for the establishment of the National Exploration Agency as against its inclusion in the PIB.

The governor said that the major problem in the petroleum industry was corruption.

The Kaduna State Solicitor-General, Hajia Hauwa Dalhatu, representing Yero, described the host communities fund as controversial.

She said it would create another tier of government in the country.

Dalhatu called for the reduction in the power of the minister of petroleum resources provided in the bill to ensure transparency in the sector.

Meanwhile, Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State has lauded the wisdom of the leadership of the House of Representatives in setting up its Ad-Hoc Committee to organise public hearing on the PIB.

Speaking when he received members of the committee for the South-East zone at the Government House, Enugu, Chime noted that the public hearing would help the House get the opinion of the people to enrich their knowledge and take decision on the matter.

http://www.punchng.com/news/pib-kwankwaso-yero-reject-host-communities-fund/