The governor of Akwa Ibom, Udom Emmanuel, has said the five per cent on oil derivation demanded by governors in the South-South is not too much when examined on the background of “the devastating effects on members of our communities.”

The governor stated this while answering questions from journalists in Minna, Niger State, on Saturday.

Emmanuel said, “The current three per cent is too little, considering the risks and hazards members of oil producing areas are subjected to. The fishermen can no longer earn a living because of oil spillage while the farmers cannot farm. There are numerous other challenges confronting members of oil communities.’’

On the Petrol Industry Bill, the governor said that members of the National Assembly had performed their duties and the southern governors could not take away their functions, adding that more resources were required to assist oil-producing communities.

According to him, the affected governors will study the PIB carefully and react to it.

The News Agency of Nigeria reported that members of the Senate and the House of Representatives recently passed the PIB with recommendations on funds for host communities generating much interest.

Meanwhile, a South-South stakeholders group, the Mangrove People Leadership Initiative, has urged the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) to decline his assent to the PIB.

The group also rejected the three per cent allocated for host communities and the 30 per cent proposed for oil exploration activities in the frontier basins contained in the harmonised document.

The group spoke in a communiqué read to journalists after its two-day second South-South grass-roots conference in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, on Friday, with the theme “South-South and the Politics of Petroleum Industry Bill.”

The group’s national secretary, Mfawa Ofegobi, who read the communiqué, said the region would not accept anything less than 10 per cent for the oil-bearing communities.

Ofegobi, together with the group’s President-General, Harry and other officials and chairmen of the group from the six states of the region, insisted that the contents of the bill awaiting the President’s assent had left the people of the region with more questions than answers.

Ofegobi said, “We appeal to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari to decline his assent to the PIB as passed (by the National Assembly).

“MAPLI rejects the 30 per cent allocated for oil and gas exploration in the frontier basins in the North while the oil-producing region is bedevilled by oil spillages and illnesses.

“We also reject the three per cent allocated to the Host Communities Trust Fund. We insist that the PIB should be specific on the definition of host communities. What constitutes host communities? Is it where oil is found, where there are pipelines, refineries or depots?”