The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said about 102 Host Community Development Trusts (HCDTs) have received N97 billion and 149 million dollars as HCDT fund remitted by settlors.
NUPRC’s Senior Manager, Health, Safety, Environment and Community, Mrs Chidinma Nwabueze, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja at a Media Workshop, organised by the commission.
Nwabueze said that the commission facilitated the remittances of N97 billion and 149 million dollars into the HCDTs fund account as of May 19.
Nwabueze said that the HCDT was incorporated and funded by the Settlors (Licencees) from three per cent of the OPEX of the annual expenses from the preceding year.
“Currently, about 102 HCDTs have received in excess of N97 billion and 149 million dollars as HCDT funds remitted by Settlors into the HCDT fund account.
“Within three years, a lot of the HCDTs will be completing projects.
“Last week we were in Bayelsa to commission 67 projects from Renaissance Energy Company Ltd., and in Rivers State to commission some other projects,” she said.
She said that the commission had also been able to approve 167 applications fully issued as approval to incorporate.
“Out of these, we have 146 fully incorporated HCDTs at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), while 21 are under processing.
“Out of 146 fully incorporated HCDTs, we have over 102 HCDT accounts opened and funded to the tune of N97 billion and 149 million dollars,” she said.
Nwabueze said that the HCDT aligned completely with the objective of the NUPRC by promoting sustainable development of the upstream petroleum responses in Nigeria for sheer prosperity within host communities.
She said that it entrenched direct social and economic benefits from the petroleum operations to the communities, providing a framework for the establishment of peace between the dwellers and the Settlors.
According to her, the speedy execution of host community development regulation and incorporation of the HCDT fund is to curb rampant community restiveness and provide a conducive business environment for operations and shared prosperity to thrive.
Speaking on the timeline required to incorporate HCDT effectively, she said that it must be incorporated prior to the application of the Field Development Plan (FDP) and the commencement of commercial operations for a petroleum mining license.
“Three strategic stakeholders in HCDT are the regulator, charged with making regulations and providing oversight functions for implementation of developmental projects, and the settlors who provide the three per cent OPEX to fund the trust.
“The third one is the Board of Trustees, being the community members, nominated by the community dwellers to serve on the board, to manage and administer the HCDT fund,” she said.
She said that though the host communities were funded through the three per cent OPEX of the settlors, there are other sources of funding, namely donations, gifts and grants, as well as profits, interest and reserve funds.
“The three per cent OPEX is considered 100 per cent when it enters the collection account and is subdivided into 75 per cent for capital project development and 25 per cent for investment,’ she said.
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Nwabueze said that the NUPRC developed innovative software and a one-stop shop called HostComply.
- She said that the software was for end-to-end reporting and monitoring HCDT activities to enable effective implementation of the HostCom provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
- The PIA requires oil exploration companies/settlors to allocate three per cent of their Operating Expenditure (OPEX) of the previous year for their host communities’ development.
