The House of Representatives’ Committee on Host Communities says it will use legislative measures to correct the acts of injustices meted on oil producing communities in Nigeria, particularly in the Niger Delta region.
The Chairman of the newly created Committee, Mr. Dekor Robinson who stated this at the inaugural sitting of the Committee in Abuja said actions against oil bearing communities in the region has caused untold poverty and deprivation among people of the region.
Mr. Robinson described the manner in which the government and oil companies treated host communities as “gross injustice,” a situation he said the committee was created to address.
The lawmaker who expressed appreciation to the leadership of the House for creating the committee, a first in the history of the National Assembly, said host communities have felt little or no impact from their oil in spite of the fact that much revenues had been derived from them.
“Nothing to show for their God given wealth, their social life has been neglected, how can people so endowed have little or nothing to show for it,” he queried.
Mr. Robinson urged members of the committee to come up with ideas that would enhance the implementation of their work plan.
“The inability of the government to protect host communities is a violation of their rights. Such injustice had led to their water being contaminated and ejection from their ancestral homes coupled with absolute denial of their means of livelihood.
Mr Robinson added that Part of what the committee was set up to achieve was to enhance peaceful coexistence between oil companies and the host communities.
Lateefah Ibrahim
