Community trust, the concept of community sustainability under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021: A conceptual framework

Abstract

The 2021 Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) established a new structure for community benefaction in the petroleum industry. The  chapter three of the PIA contains one of the structural introductions which created a uniform mechanism for socio-economic investments in host communities as well as espoused the idea of fostering sustainable prosperity in communities. The idea of fostering sustainable  prosperity and the imposition of a uniform community benefit management system referred to as the ‘Host Community Development Trust’ (HCDT) are potentially valuable measures that can transform the host communities if strategically engaged. The Act mandates  every holder of an upstream petroleum license to incorporate a Host Community Development Trust for their host community within twelve months. This paper examines the concept of fostering sustainable prosperity in the host communities within the context of  upstream petroleum development in Nigeria. It concludes that the idea of fostering sustainable prosperity in host communities is  achievable if the paradigm for environmental accountability is more rigorously enforced, the concept of community sustainability is  mainstreamed into socio-economic investment decisions, and deliberate steps are taken to leverage other development opportunities to  deepen and expand the scope of benefaction within spatial areas.