Committee Chairman, Hon Julius Pondi, disclosed this on Tuesday during a session in Abuja examining the inactivity of the Abandonment and Decommissioning Fund and the Environmental Remediation Fund—both statutory allocations under the PIA intended for environmental restoration and the decommissioning of obsolete oil infrastructure.
According to the figures presented, the Abandonment and Decommissioning Fund should have accrued between ₦850 billion and ₦1.1 trillion, while the Environmental Remediation Fund ought to have collected ₦420 billion to ₦550 billion over the past four years.
Pondi described the delay as a grave breach of environmental justice, saying communities continue to bear the brunt of pollution, contaminated waterways, depleted fisheries, and health hazards caused by inactive oil infrastructure.
He also criticised regulators, particularly the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), for their lack of transparency and slow response, noting that the situation may necessitate a new dedicated agency to manage the funds effectively.
Representatives of NUPRC, NMDPRA, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), and supervising ministries were present at the session.
Since the PIA’s passage in 2021, the House has continually advocated for strict enforcement of environmental provisions to prevent the transfer of cleanup costs to host communities. Pondi emphasised that the Federal Government must now translate legislative mandates into tangible improvements.
“The National Assembly cannot continue to look away while environmental liabilities multiply and communities suffer,” he said.
