Four years after the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) came into effect, the Niger Delta has yet to see the benefits of two major environmental funds, the House of Representatives Committee on South South Development Commission (SSDC) revealed on Tuesday.
Hon. Julius Gbabojör Pondi, committee chairman, warned that the Abandonment and Decommissioning Fund and the Environmental Remediation Fund—intended to hold oil companies accountable for cleaning up degraded lands and waterways—have been largely inactive, denying the region an estimated N1.65 trillion since 2021.
“If properly operationalised, these funds could have amassed between N850 billion and N1.1 trillion for decommissioning and N420 billion to N550 billion for environmental remediation. Instead, communities continue to suffer from polluted rivers, depleted fisheries, and poisoned farmlands,” Pondi said.
The session brought together regulators and supervising ministries, including NUPRC, NMDPRA, NOSDRA, and the Ministries of Petroleum and Environment, to forge a framework to activate the dormant funds. Pondi slammed the regulators for lack of transparency and progress, hinting that failure to act could prompt the creation of a dedicated agency to manage the funds.
“The National Assembly cannot stand by while environmental liabilities pile up. The era of shifting cleanup responsibilities to local communities must end,” he said.
The debate took a fiery turn as Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), warned that Nigeria is in a full-scale security crisis, with insecurity threatening political stability ahead of the 2027 elections.
“Our people live in fear and despair. Despite the best efforts of security agencies, the government’s response is not enough. The North, in particular, faces devastation from banditry, kidnappings, and terrorist attacks,” Doguwa said, calling the situation unspeakable.
He stressed that protecting citizens is the government’s core responsibility, warning that failure to act risks a “calculated attempt to demoralise the Nigerian state.”