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By Tracy Moses
The House of Representatives Committee on the South South Development Commission has warned that Nigeria’s failure to activate two crucial funding provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has denied the Niger Delta an estimated ₦1.27 trillion to ₦1.65 trillion intended for environmental cleanup and decommissioning of ageing oil assets since 2021.
Chairman of the committee, Hon. Julius Gbabojör Pondi, issued the warning on Tuesday during an interactive session at the National Assembly, convened to examine why the Abandonment and Decommissioning Fund and the Environmental Remediation Fund have remained dormant more than three years after the PIA came into force.
According to Pondi, submissions before the committee show that the Abandonment and Decommissioning Fund “should have accrued between ₦850 billion and ₦1.1 trillion,” while the Environmental Remediation Fund “ought to have realised no less than ₦420 billion to ₦550 billion” within the same period.
Calling the delay “a direct assault on environmental justice,” he stressed that the PIA was enacted to ensure oil companies bear the full cost of cleaning up pollution and dismantling obsolete infrastructure.
“These funds were created so that the people of the Niger Delta would no longer be forced to carry the burden of oil pollution on their backs,” Pondi said. “Yet four years later, the funds remain untouched, while farmlands are poisoned, rivers are unsafe, and entire communities are struggling to survive the consequences.”
He also criticised the regulators responsible for implementing the funds, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), describing their handling of the matter as “a troubling display of institutional incapacity.”
“We cannot continue to operate in darkness. There must be clarity, transparency, and urgency. If the current regulators cannot deliver, then we will have to consider creating a new agency dedicated specifically to managing these funds.”
The session brought together stakeholders from NUPRC, NMDPRA, NOSDRA, SSDC, and the Ministries of Petroleum and Environment, with lawmakers demanding a clear and credible roadmap for activating the funds.
Reaffirming the committee’s position, Pondi said lawmakers would intensify oversight to ensure host communities benefit from the law.
“The National Assembly cannot and will not look the other way while environmental liabilities pile up and the people suffer the consequences,” he said. “The era of shifting cleanup responsibilities to impoverished communities must end once and for all.”