House C’ttee threatens warrant of arrest on IOCs
By Tom Okpe
The tripartite Committees of the House of Representatives, investigating implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility, by multinational oil companies and other corporate bodies in the South-South, has threatened to issue warrant of arrest on any organisation that failed to honour its invitation.
Chairman of the committees, Rep (Prof) Obiageli Lilian Orogbu frowned at the failure of some major Oil Companies, for not attending the investigative hearing which held at the National Assembly complex on Thursday.
Prof Orogbu warned that the Committees would not hesitate to deal with any organization that failed to respect the investigative panel.
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She said: “The House has asked us to carry out this exercise based on numbers of petitions received from host communities.
“We will not take it kindly with any organization that decided to undermine this assignment.”
In her opening remarks, Orogbu emphasized that the essence of the investigative hearing was borne out of genuine intention of the parliament to see that corporate bodies, operating in Nigeria keep to the best practices of corporate and environmental behaviours within their host communities.
She acknowledged that reports at the disposal of the parliament shows that lots of Oil Companies are lagging behind in this regard.
“We want to see a change, and also, ensure that what you do as Corporate Social Responsibility to your hosts are commensurate with the level of businesses you do.
“Some of you observe Corporate Social Responsibility in other countries you operate, but, fail to do same here in Nigeria, because nobody cares.
“We want a new Nigeria and we need you, to work together with Government, to rebuild this country. I know that some of you are doing quite well but there are more of you that are not responsible enough,” she stressed.
Also, Members of the Committee were not happy that the companies that attended the hearing didn’t come with evidences of what they had done for their host Communities.
The committees involved in the investigative hearing are the Corporate Social Responsibility, Niger-Delta Development Commission and the host Communities.
Oil Companies, present at the public hearing were, Dubri Oil company, Lee Engineering, Equinor Oil, Famfa oil, Sahara Group and Network E&P Ltd.
Others are, Monipulo Ltd, GereenVille LNG, Chirus Energy, Seplat Energy, Roviigs Ltd and Chevron.
The meeting was however, adjourned and rescheduled for another date, to be communicated, by the secretariat.
