Senator representing Bayelsa West in the National Assembly, Seriake Dickson, has expressed shock over statement credited to Senator Eremienyon Degi, his counterpart from Bayelsa East and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Dickson was said to be wrongfully accused of inciting violence in the Niger Delta over the three per cent allocation to the oil-producing communities in the PIB.
Dickson, a former Governor of Bayelsa State, had spoken on pressing national issues including the Bill to amend the Electoral Act and the PIB when he addressed the National Assembly Press Corps last Thursday.
In a statement yesterday, the Senator, who recalled that the former President Umaru Yar’Adua, under whose administration the PIB was initiated, recommended 10 per cent for the communities, added that even President Muhammadu Buhari initially recommended five percent to them.
Dickson used the opportunity of his interaction with the media to explain what senators from the region did in terms of interacting with their colleagues from other parts of the country.
He narrated how the Southern Nigeria Senators Forum and the South-South Senators Forum led by Senator Bamidele Opeyemi and George Sekibo respectively made efforts to get the buy-in of their colleagues for five percent, which was how the executive proposal for 2.5 per cent was upgraded to five percent in the joint committees’ report.
He said the efforts were ably coordinated by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and supported by all senators from the region, saying he thanked all those who supported the efforts and those who voted five per cent at the conference committee session of the National Assembly.
The statement said Dickson in his characteristic manner of honour and truthfulness, said he relayed how most senators even from the North, pledged to support the minimum of five per cent as a result of the interactions.
It explained further that on the morning of the vote, the Senate leadership permitted the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, and the GMD of the NNPC to highlight the technical aspects of the bill, which in retrospect proved inimical to Southsouth’s quest for five per cent as the presentation by the ministerial team clearly and strongly stated that anything other than 2.5 per cent was going to drive away investors from oil industry.