To manage the funds provided by oil and gas companies for their various Host Communities’ Development Trusts, the Federal Government has approved 19 fund managers.
The development of communities where oil and gas operations are conducted is the goal of HCDTs, trust funds established by domestic and international oil and gas companies.
Through the Nigerian Upstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Federal Government approved the fund managers and stated that additional companies would be approved in due course.
At a stakeholder engagement on the deployment of the commission’s Host Comply Technology Solution on Friday in Abuja, Olatokunbo Karimu, the assistant director of the NUPRC’s host communities department, revealed this.
As a long-term sustainability program for the host communities following the end of oil and gas operations, he said, “The fund managers are very important. Thus, out of the 37 applications we received from fund managers, 19 have been granted full approval to participate in the arena.
“You (oil companies) can find the fully approved fund managers on our website, where you can also advise your management committees or board of trustees to choose from this list. The number of approved fund managers will increase.
According to Karimu, Chapter 3 of the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021 is entirely devoted to the development of host communities. He also noted that the NUPRC’s corresponding regulation was released in June 2022 and is gradually being put into operation.
He claimed that 3% of oil companies’ operational costs, as well as other sources like grants, donations, and gifts, would go toward the development of the host communities.
He stated, “We are examining the situation where we can expand these donations, gifts, and grants in the future. We’ve had the honor of educating the BOTs (Board of Trustees) on this specific section through a few unveilings of the BOTs.
