PIA Failure Costs Niger Delta Up to N1.65trn, House Committee Warns

Juliet Akoje In Abuja.

The House of Representatives Committee on the South-South Development Commission has warned that Nigeria’s failure to activate two key Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) funds has deprived the Niger Delta of an estimated ₦1.27 trillion to ₦1.65 trillion earmarked for environmental cleanup and dismantling aging oil infrastructure since 2021.

Committee chairman, Hon. Julius Gbabojör Pondi, issued the alarm on Tuesday during an interactive session at the National Assembly, convened to probe why the Abandonment and Decommissioning Fund and the Environmental Remediation Fund legally required under the PIA remain unimplemented.

He explained that data submitted to the committee shows the Abandonment and Decommissioning Fund should by now have accumulated between ₦850 billion and ₦1.1 trillion, while the Environmental Remediation Fund ought to have built up between ₦420 billion and ₦550 billion if the PIA mandates had been carried out since 2021.

Pondi condemned the prolonged delay, calling it a grave violation of environmental justice and a significant obstacle to sustainable development in the oil-producing region.

He stressed the funds were specifically designed to make oil and gas operators bear full responsibility for dismantling obsolete facilities and restoring environments damaged by extraction activities.

“These funds were established to stop the transfer of environmental burdens to local residents. Yet, four years after the PIA became law, they remain inactive, leaving farms polluted, waterways poisoned, fish stocks depleted, and communities exposed to severe health risks,” Pondi lamented.

He also faulted the lack of transparency and progress from the relevant regulatory bodies especially the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), saying their handling of the issue reflects institutional weakness.

Pondi added that persistent opacity around the funds has even triggered discussions about creating a new specialized agency to manage them efficiently and credibly if current regulators continue to underperform.

The session gathered officials from NUPRC, NMDPRA, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), the SSDC, and the supervising petroleum and environment ministries to work toward a unified, trustworthy plan for activating the funds.

Reaffirming the committee’s oversight mandate, Pondi insisted the federal government must ensure that legislative tools produce real, measurable benefits for communities hosting oil operations.

“The National Assembly cannot keep silent while environmental damages escalate and citizens bear the brunt,” he emphasized.

He concluded by declaring that the long-standing practice of pushing cleanup responsibilities onto already impoverished communities must come to an end.

ENDS