The House of Representatives has raised fresh concerns over the non-implementation of two major funds created under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), a delay lawmakers say has denied oil-producing communities an estimated N1.65 trillion meant for cleaning polluted environments and decommissioning abandoned oil facilities.
The alarm was raised on Tuesday by the Chairman of the House Committee on South South Development Commission, Hon. Julius Pondi, during an interactive session with key regulatory agencies and stakeholders in Abuja. The committee examined why the Abandonment and Decommissioning Fund and the Environmental Remediation Fund, both mandated by the PIA since 2021, have remained inactive.
According to figures submitted to the committee, the Abandonment and Decommissioning Fund should have accumulated between N850 billion and N1.1 trillion, while the Environmental Remediation Fund should have accrued between N420 billion and N550 billion within the period. None of these funds has been operationalized.
Hon. Pondi described the prolonged delay as a violation of environmental justice and a major setback for sustainable development in the Niger Delta. He noted that the funds were created to ensure that oil and gas companies take full responsibility for decommissioning outdated infrastructure, cleaning up polluted communities, and restoring damaged ecosystems.
“These funds were created to prevent environmental liabilities from being pushed onto local communities. Yet four years after the PIA was enacted, the funds remain dormant. Farmlands are still polluted, rivers are contaminated, fish stocks are depleted and entire communities have been left to deal with the health and economic consequences,” Pondi said.
He expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of transparency and progress from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), saying their slow response reflects what he called institutional weakness.
“The repeated inability to provide clarity on these funds has now led to conversations about establishing a new agency to manage them if the current regulators continue to fall short,” he added.
The session had representatives from NUPRC, NMDPRA, NOSDRA, the South South Development Commission and the Ministries of Petroleum and Environment in attendance. The meeting aimed to develop a coordinated and credible framework for activating the dormant funds.
Hon. Pondi reaffirmed the committee’s commitment to strong oversight, insisting that the federal government must ensure that laws passed by the National Assembly produce real benefits for host communities.
“The National Assembly cannot continue to look away while environmental liabilities rise and communities suffer,” he said, stressing that the long-standing practice of leaving cleanup responsibilities to impoverished communities must end.
𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘀𝗔𝗽𝗽 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗧𝗼 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗔𝘀 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽!
