The repealed Petroleum Act of 1969 in Nigeria became inadequate and largely incapable of meeting the emerging best practices in the oil industry the world over. In particular, the said Act could not address, to a greater extent, the hope and aspirations of the people of the oil bearing states. Since the inception of oil exploitation in Niger Delta region, agitations by the youths of the oil bearing and impacted communities against the activities of the IOCs and subsequent establishment of intervention agencies to address environmental degradation and crisis of underdevelopment in the region failed to engender the needed peace in the region. This work adopts doctrinal research method. The work, therefore, examines and analyses the recently signed Petroleum Industry Act 2021 in Nigeria, as regards the Host Communities Development Trusts provision. The paper found that the new Petroleum Industry Act creates the host communities development trust as an interventionist body, which is remarkably different from other previous and existing intervention mechanisms in the petroleum sector and as applicable to the Niger Delta region. This work also found that the host communities’ development trust is to be established, specifically, to address the developmental needs of the oil bearing and impacted communities in the region. Also, the Trust is to be established by the settlor, that is, the oil companies operating in the upstream petroleum exploration. The work recommends among other things that besides the novel provision in the new Act, there is a need for the settlor to avoid the temptation of allowing interference in the appointment of persons into the Board of Trustees of the host communities’ development trust by politicians and the relevant state governments in the region.
Keywords: Environmental degradation, Petroleum, crisis of underdevelopment. Niger Delta region, host communities development trust
