A Federal Government Compliance Monitoring and Sensitization Implementation Progress Team on the implementation of the Host Community Development enshrined in section 234 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021 was held hostage for over two hours and drilled by solders on the orders of a foreign national and top management staff of Sterling Exploration and Energy Petroleum Company (SEEPCO) in Kwale Office, Delta State while on official monitoring exercise to the company, recently.
The reason for the action of the foreign national could not be immediately ascertained but report has it that on arrival at the premises of the oil company on the faithful day, the monitoring team was received by the base manager of the company, Mr Simon k. John and Public Relations Officer, Mr Emmanuel Ajang after which the sensitization conversation commenced.
The leader of the compliance monitoring team, Engineer George Bucknor introduced members of the team and informed the staff that the visit was to sensitize them on the provisions of the PIA Act with emphasis on the strict implementation of the Nigerian content as provided for, in the Act.
Engineer Bucknor explained that his company, Mecco and Marine Holdings Ltd was appointed as consultant by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, (NUPRC) to ensure strict compliance to the provisions of the PIA Act.
He also stated that the essence of the visit was to familiarize and sensitize critical stakeholders particularly operators of the industry on the importance of doing the needful, adding that the exercise was not to witch-hunt any company but rather to help promote a more cordial business environment between the operators and their host communities .
The monitoring team leader further stated that their mission was to collate actionable intelligence on the host communities’ activities pertaining the mandate of the Petroleum Industry Act, saying that the objective was to ensure that host communities enjoyed their direct social and economic benefits of petroleum operations.
Trouble, however, started when midway into the meeting a top management team and expatriate barged into the venue of the meeting and ordered the team members to shut down the video recording and instructed soldiers on guard duty to interrogate and drill the monitoring team members.
Engineer Bucknor, who was embarrassed and humiliated by the action of the expatriate quickly put a call across to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission headquarters, Abuja where a senior member of the commission confirmed that the monitoring team was on official duty at the instance of the commission.
But the call did not assuage the position of the top officer of SEEPCO, who ordered the soldiers to interrogate and escort members of the team out of the company’s premises after close to an hour of illegal detention.
Meanwhile, an official report on the incident has been formally presented to the headquarters of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission for further action.
