The upstream sector regulator, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Fee (NUPRC), has reported that the Host Neighborhood Growth Belief Fund has risen to N373 billion as of October 13, 2025.
The Fee additionally revealed that it’s at present overseeing 536 lively neighborhood growth initiatives funded via the Belief throughout Nigeria’s oil-producing areas.
In keeping with the NUPRC, the N373 billion fund includes N125 billion in naira and $168.9 million in overseas foreign money contributions from oil and fuel operators, referred to as settlors.
The institution of the Host Neighborhood Growth Belief (HCDT) fund is remitted beneath Part 235 of the Petroleum Trade Act (PIA) 2021, which requires oil firms working in host communities to allocate three per cent of their annual working expenditure from the previous 12 months into these devoted belief funds.
These funds are used solely to finance growth initiatives that handle the socio-economic wants of host communities, together with infrastructure, training, healthcare, environmental sustainability, and youth empowerment.
The PIA requires that oil firms, in session with host communities, set up Boards of Trustees to handle the funds.
These Boards are duly registered as company our bodies with the Company Affairs Fee and oversee the implementation of initiatives as prioritised via complete neighborhood wants assessments.
Whereas the NUPRC doesn’t instantly management the funds, it screens their allocation and venture implementation by way of a digital platform known as HostComply, guaranteeing compliance with statutory rules and fostering transparency.
In a latest growth reflecting the fee’s lively facilitation position, NUPRC oversaw the supply of greater than 10 transformative initiatives and flagged off a further 10 initiatives beneath the Obagi Host Neighborhood Growth Belief in Rivers State, operated by TotalEnergies.
The venture handover was marked by a two-day ceremony held between September 24 and 25, 2025, on the Ogbogu Neighborhood, Ogba Egbema Ndoni Native Authorities Space.
The finished initiatives in Obagi embody the demolition and reconstruction of two-storey classroom blocks with 18 UBEC-standard school rooms, a remodelled 20-bed Ogbogu Cottage Hospital, together with a brand new diagnostic centre, and the improve of the Ogbogu Extremely Fashionable Civic Centre, which has a capability for 1,200 folks. Infrastructure enhancements additionally embody totally paved roads measuring 260 meters and 320 meters in several communities, development of an Amah Bottling Water Manufacturing facility with substantial manufacturing capacities, set up of a Gasoline Skid Plant, and renovations of native major faculties with trendy college furnishings and amenities.
Talking on the occasion, NUPRC chief government, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe emphasised that these initiatives will improve primary training, healthcare companies, and employment alternatives.
Komolafe, who was represented by the NUPRC government commissioner, Capt. John Roland Tonglagha inspired host communities to take possession of those property and collaborate with upstream operators to develop the oil business additional and promote nationwide prosperity. Komolafe additionally lauded President Bola Tinubu’s proactive assist, which has improved funding prospects within the upstream petroleum sector.
Additionally talking, the deputy governor of Rivers State, Professor Ngozi Nma Odu, expressed satisfaction with the well timed supply and efficient utilisation of funds, contrasting it positively with earlier administrations the place funds have been typically underutilised. Senator Benson Agadaga, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Oil and Gasoline Host Communities, praised the optimistic influence of the PIA in lowering host neighborhood restiveness, highlighting that peace within the Niger Delta is vital to reaching Nigeria’s crude manufacturing goal of over two million barrels per day.
The managing director of TotalEnergies Upstream Firms Nigeria, Matthieu Bouyer, harassed that TotalEnergies was among the many first worldwide oil firms to completely adjust to the HCDT mandate, having created over 1,000 jobs and impacted greater than 30,000 folks throughout greater than 60 communities via the Obagi HCDT.
He described the initiative as a mannequin for sustainable neighborhood growth aligned with regulatory frameworks.
The Obagi HCDT Board of Trustees chairman, Excessive Chief Dike Hopeson Dike, assured stakeholders of continued neighborhood cooperation and underscored vital progress in resolving native water challenges via over 125 solar-powered boreholes put in inside a 12 months.
The regular progress of the Host Neighborhood Growth Belief Fund and the profitable execution of tons of of initiatives spotlight the NUPRC’s vital position in guaranteeing the advantages of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon sources instantly translate into tangible growth and peace for host communities.
