By Haruna Salami
The Senate on Tuesday urged all multinational and Nigerian oil and gas companies operating in the country to relocate their headquarters to their operational bases.
This was the resolution of a motion sponsored by Senator Albert Basset Akpan (Akwa Ibom North East), Chairman Senate Committee on Gas and co-sponsored by 23 other senators on Tuesday.
The motion was titled “urgent need to encourage all multinational and Nigerian Oil and Gas companies to relocate to their operational bases”.
“The Senate noted with concern that multinational and Nigerian oil and gas companies have, over the years been operating from their respective operational based until militancy and insecurity in the host communities in the Niger Delta became the order of the day”.
However, the Senate was convinced the recent passage of and signing into law of the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA (2021) by the National Assembly and the assent by the President respectively, is a major milestone towards the restoration of of lasting peace in the host communities.
The Senate was also of the view that the PIA, 2021 now “places certain responsibilities on the security, peace and safety of the oil and gas infrastructure on the host communities to safeguard and ensure peaceful co-existence between oil and gas companies and their host communities”.
The Senate therefore resolved to mandate its Committees on Petroleum Resources Upstream, Downstream Petroleum Sector and Gas to liaise with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Presidential Implementation Committee on the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), to facilitate the relocation of the oil and gas companies in Nigeria to their operational bases to ensure their smooth operations”
