Controversy rocks PIA empowerment programme in Akwa Ibom

The Host Community Development Trust Fund, (HDCT) in Esit Eket local government area of Akwa Ibom State has been enmeshed in controversy over the empowerment programme of NNPC/MPN Joint Venture under the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA.

Esit Eket Trust, which was part of EMOIMEE, an acronym for oil producing LGAs of Eket, Mbo, Onna, Ikot Abasi, Mkpat Enin, Esit Eket and Eastern Obollo was inaugurated in August, 2024 and had done two projects- the scholarship grant to students and purchase of 95 mini-buses and 95 motorcycles to communities.

The execution of the two projects, however, is raising a lot of dust in the area as some stakeholders queried the yardstick for the selection process of beneficiaries, the quality of the empowerment package.

They are also demanding accountability of the whole exercise.

The alleged opacity in the activities of the fund managers had compelled a former youth leader in Esit Eket, Jacob Jacob to drag them to Federal High court, Uyo seeking transparency and accountability.

In a telephone interview over the weekend, Jacob said he ran to court when it seemed the committee was adamant to publish the names of scholarship beneficiaries in each village, the selection process, as well as the beneficiaries of both bus and motorcycles.

Jacob expressed confidence in the court’s handling of the matter, noting that the village heads and members of the communities were not consulted to get their inputs or have their NEEDS assessment conducted before embarking on the exercise.

His words, “Right from scholarship, we don’t have the record of any beneficiary in my village and up till now they have not published the beneficiaries from my ward so that we know if our people actually benefited.

“This is a public fund which has to be published so that communities will know what you are doing. I’m saying that the total arrangement is not pleasant.

“My prayers to the court was for them to publish the beneficiaries and how they selected them and I know the court is capable of handling it.

“The committee should have had town hall meetings and the people of Esit Eket should have had a hand in nominating the beneficiaries, village by village. There is no village head that will say he has a hand in nominating the beneficiaries.

“But all those ones were nominated by the trust funds executive through their personal discretion. What we are agitating is to let them publish the beneficiaries, it’s not their personal fund.

“Let us know the amount of money you have collected so far, the amount coming to the local government, it’s not your money. Let us know how much is remaining in our purse and they owe us accountability for that.”

In a post by a public commentator and Akwa Ibom state Chairman of APGA, Umoudi Essien, the mini buses and motorcycles given to beneficiaries were nothing to write home about as they were obsolete and rickety.

He said such had raised questions about the integrity of the PIA program and the individuals entrusted with its implementation.

According to him, “one of the mini buses, bearing the number 025, allocated to Chief Emmanuel James Miangubak from Ikot Ibiok Village should be described as ‘scrap’.

“The public demands answers and accountability, as the actions of those involved have exacerbated the conditions of the beneficiaries rather than alleviating them.”

Also, callers in a phone in program of one of the radio stations in Akwa Ibom expressed dismay in the quality and conditions of the min-ibuses distributed at the empowerment programme.

“If you come to Eket and move around mechanic workshops, you’ll find so many of those mini-buses abandoned in the workshop because of one fault or the other,” he said.

Reacting, the representative of Esit-Eket in the Trust, Mr Dan Abia, said the allegations of corruption in the disbursement of HCDTF was politically motivated.

He said It was impossible to embezzle fund under PIA structure,

“In fact, the way the PIA is fashioned, it’s almost impossible to have any form of embezzlement.

“We have several layers of control; we have the Board of Trustees whose job and responsibilities are distinct from the management committee.

“The Management Committee also has its responsibility very distinct from that of the Advisory Committee.

“The checks don’t even stop at that level, we have the Settlor, which is like the general overseer, then you have yet again the regulator.

“By this Act, there is only one regulator and that regulator is the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulation Commission. The Regulator regulates the settlor and the activities of the Trust.

“You cannot go outside the host community development plan, so you are guided by the PIA document.

“It’s specified by law that the Settlor should carry out the needs assessment and the bottom line is that both the needs assessment and the host community development plan is done by the Settlor (Mobil) but in conjunction with the Community.

“It’s impossible to do a project that is not contained in the document and that means you cannot invent any project.

“These allegations are politically motivated and coming from people who are yet to benefit.”

On allegations of rickety buses as palliatives, Abia said the prices were not determined by him or any of them but by the procurement team.

“The price in Esit-Eket is the same as the price in Eket and any other place, these jobs were advertised and usually with Mobil, the lowest bidder gets the job and it was awarded at N3.9m for each bus,” he said.

Controversy rocks PIA empowerment programme in Akwa Ibom