.

By Samuel Oyadongha, YENAGOA

Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, yesterday, said the role of state governments had been deliberately whittled down in the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, which implementation was expected to commence this month.

He spoke when he received in audience a high-powered 15-member delegation from the Bayelsa Amazons Advocacy Campaign Group in Yenagoa.

Lamenting that governments in the oil and gas producing states in Niger Delta had virtually been reduced to mere observers, he noted that there were a lot of lacunas in the PIA, which clearly put the oil-bearing areas in a disadvantaged position.

According to him, the major shortcomings in the Act, as passed by the National Assembly and assented to by President Muhammed Buhari had denied the state governments their full participation in the implementation of the PIA.

His words: “We have some lacunas in the PIA law. You can’t deprive a man of his right and expect him not to complain. Considering the way that law is couched, they have actually reduced the role of the oil-bearing states to that of a ‘siddon looker’.

Ewhrudjakpo, who called on the group to properly articulate their points for gender equity, promised that the interest of women in Bayelsa would be adequately protected in line with the provisions of the PIA.

In her remarks, state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Social Development and Empowerment, Faith Opene, explained that the agenda being championed by the women group was aimed at achieving 30 per cent representation of women in the PIA implementation.