Nigerian Petroleum Industry Act 2021 & Host Communities Development: Issues & Challenges

The signing of the Nigerian Petroleum Industry Act in 2021 by the Buhari administration signified a paradigm shift from voluntary to statutory mandated community investment strategy of oil and gas companies in Nigeria. In order words, the discretionary Community investment strategies (Memorandum of Understanding) hitherto employed by oil and gas production and exploration companies to ameliorate the squabbles between them and their respective host community, and thereby gain unhindered access to operate no longer obtains. The deployment framework, processes and procedures to guide its (PIA) implementation is stated in the ACT. Also, further clarifications on gray areas in the ACT were expounded in the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) guidelines. However, despite the robustness of the ACT and the NUPRC guidelines, settlors and host communities alike have raised pertinent questions regarding its implementation. The paper is aimed at objectively identifying the existing gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act and the NUPRC guideline as it relates to the host community component with a view to suggests/recommends possible solutions.