‘Anyone Querying The Use Of 13 Percent Fund Lacks Idea Of Stuff Niger Delta Is Made Of’ – Okowa

• Calls On Buhari To Reconstitute NDDC Board

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, on Thursday, replied critics of the use of 13 percent derivation funds by the Niger Delta region’s governors who are coincidentally pushing for the review of the oil revenue accruing to the region.

BIGPENNGR.COM reports Okowa said that anyone who is trying to query what the governors have been doing with the money, lacks idea of the ‘sterner stuff’ the Niger Delta is made of and what the governors are going through in its development.

Okowa, who is the Chairman, South-South Governors’ Forum, spoke at a book launch in Asaba, the state capital on Thursday.

The book written by the chairman of Warri South Local Government Area of the State, Dr. Michael Tidi, centre around the prevailing situation in the Niger Delta region and entitled “Resource Dependence, Violent Conflict and Economic Development in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria”.

BIGPENNGR.COM reports that there have been complaints of state governors diverting the 13 percent fund to other uses all over the years with many calling for direct payment of the fund through the Presidential Derivation Committee (PDC) and State Implementation Committee (SIC) to the oil-bearing communities.

Most recent criticism against the governors over the alleged diversion of the funds came from the deputy president of the senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, who had lamented the alleged diversion of the 13 per cent oil derivation funds by oil-producing states.

Omo-Agege who had advocated full utilisation of the funds for oil-bearing communities, as against the practice where states release only 50 per cent of the money to their development commissions, expressed regrets that the utilisation of the 13 per cent derivation funds has become a political tool in the hands of state governors in the region and that the diversion of the money has contributed gravely to the underdevelopment of the region as the affected communities can hardly boast of having access to the basic necessities of life.

“It is fair that the 13 per cent derivation is meant to ameliorate the conditions of the people who are most impacted by oil exploration and exploitation. That is the only reason this fund was set aside as a consequence of your agitation which you led for so many years.

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“These funds are not meant for the state governments. The state governments are meant to be purveyors to host communities. Even in states that have development commissions, they only earmark 50 percent of the funds to the Commission to manage on behalf of the host communities. So what happens to the other 50 per cent?, Omo-Agege had queried in a statement by his media aide, Yomi Odunuga.

But reacting to some of the issues on the backdrop of the renewed agitations for resource control, devolution of powers, true federalism and restructuring of the country which formed the root of the recent South-south Assembly meeting with President Buhari’s chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, Governor Okowa said that the Niger Delta region deserved more than what it was getting.

He expressed reservations that some critics are questioning what have been done with 13 percent at a time when the people of the region are saying the federal government should jack up the fund to 100 per cent and allow the region to pay tax of 50 per cent.

“Our people must realise that we cannot continue to play politics with what we say or do. Recently in Port Harcourt, we called for resource control and restructuring because the Constitution as it is now, cannot develop the country.

“Give us 100 per cent and we can pay you tax of 50 per cent, and I hear people asking what the governors had done with the 13 per cent derivation?

“The cost elements in construction are different and it’s obvious that when people speak, they don’t have an idea of what we are going through in this region. We are not saying that governors should not be accountable but we should be asking for the control of the entire resources and possibly pay tax to the Federal Government.

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“We must be ready to work together to speak truth to power, and no reasonable Niger Deltan should criticise what the leaders demanded at Port Harcourt because as has been said by some stakeholders, ’13 per cent derivation is 87 per cent deprivation’.

Okowa, however called for an amendment of the Constitution to enable Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) present its review directly to the National Assembly.

“A lot of money is truly required to develop the Niger Delta area and a review of the revenue allocation formula in favour of states and local government is highly imperative at this moment.

“This is because RMAFC was supposed to review the revenue allocation formula every five years,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Governor Okowa, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to reconstitute the Board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), saying instability in the commission’s board has contributed to the systemic institutional failure of the agency.

He said that Buhari should give NDDC a board that would be accountable and eliminate politicization of the interventionist agency, adding that it was time for Niger Delta people to collectively talk about the commission.

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“I am not happy when I see the type of projects embarked upon by the NDDC in recent times. They ought to embark on inter-regional projects and also build major roads that connect one part of a state to another and not one kilometer of roads as the case may be,’’ he said.

The governor also stated that aside the stipends being paid to some ex-militants under the Amnesty Programme, the Federal Government should also empower the people on skill acquisition and set them up as real entrepreneurs.

According to him, the Federal Government ought to find a pathway for those trained, because many of the skill acquisition centres being built have been abandoned.

He deplored the attitude of some persons saddled with management of agencies and programmes established for the development of the Niger Delta, saying “unfortunately, some of our people when appointed, they go there for the wrong reasons and it is imperative that we must appoint people that can be held accountable for their actions during their tenure.

“There is a need to develop the Amnesty Programme to become sustainable so that the people can benefit from it. We have truly started up by trying to solve the problem at the foundation stage without building them up to become self-reliant”.

The governor pointed out that the quest for restructuring and resource control required greater cooperation and partnership to achieve a common goal for the development of the region.

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“The agitation has brought a lot to the fore because when we speak out on the injustice being meted on our people, it is considered as confrontation but it’s not truly so, because there is no fairness, no equity and a lot of exploitation and injustice is being done against the people of the Niger Delta.

“The people of the region didn’t start their agitation with violent conflict but as a result of the years of neglect and exploitation by the Federal Government,’’ he said, and eulogised late President Musa Yar ‘Adua for introducing the Amnesty Programme to end violent conflict in the region.

“The Amnesty payment wasn’t the holistic plan he had for the Niger Delta, but unfortunately when he died it appeared that the plans died with him.’’

The governor congratulated the author of the book for putting his knowledge on paper for the benefit of others, adding that the book tended to enrich the political, economic and community discourse concerning oil exploration and exploitation in the Niger Delta.

Chairman of the occasion, Prof. Sam Oyovbaire, who was represented by Prof. Sam Ukala, said in his opening remarks that every book launch was a harvest of creative intellectual diligence, a keen analysis of human problems and recommendations to the problems.

He said that the book which dwelt on the adverse effects of oil exploitation by multinational companies and its attendant harmful effects was an invaluable gift to the governments and people of the Niger Delta and Nigerians.

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The Book Reviewer and Chief Economic Adviser to Oyo State Governor, Dr Babatunde Adetunji, commended the author for doing justice to the book.

He said institutional framework failures and injustice had led to increase in income inequality and poverty in the Niger Delta.