- Says No Fairness, Equity, Justice For Niger Delta People
- Urges FG To Constitute NDDC Board
From Amaechi Prosper (The New Diplomat’s Delta Correspondent)
As the agitation for the control of the 13% derivation fund by the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta assumes national proportion, Gov. Okowa of Delta State has continued to defend the unilateral control of the fund by the state governments.
Okowa insists the people of the Niger Delta region ought not to ask the governors what they do with the 13% derivation fund but rather they should go hustle the balance of 87% held back from the revenue from the oil producing areas.
Read also:
13% Derivation: More N’Delta Leaders Back Agitation For Community Control Of Fund
Wellington Okrika: Present Crop Of N’Delta Governors ill-informed On 13% Derivation Fund
13% Derivation: Okowa’s Position Irks Niger Delta Oil-Producing Communities, Triggers Concern
The governor who restated this position for the umpteenth time, on the occasion of a book launch written by the Warri South Local Government chairman, Dr. Michael Tidi in Asaba, accused those criticizing the 7-Point demands presented by the South South governors in Port Harcourt recently of crass ignorance, adding that they are not aware of how difficult it is to govern the Niger Delta region.
He said: “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 percent 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.
“We must be ready to work together to speak truth to power, and no reasonable Niger Deltan should criticize what the leaders demanded at Port Harcourt because as it has been said by some stakeholders, ’13 percent derivation is 87 percent deprivation’.”
Governor Okowa who is the chairman of the South South Governors’ Forum, called for an amendment of the Constitution to enable the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, review the current revenue formula, adding that a lot of money is required to develop the Niger Delta.
“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.
Governor Okowa noted that the failure of the federal government to release the 100% revenue derivation from the Niger Delta constitutes lack of fairness, equity and it amounts to injustice.
He said: “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.”
On the state of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Gov. Okowa expressed dismay at the decay in the Commission, calling on the federal government to constitute the board of the agency as, according to him, only a credible board could be accountable and eliminate politics in the agency.
“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.
Read also:
$1b Security Fund: South-South Governors Demand 13% Derivation
Okowa Must Account For 13% Derivation Fund, Says APC Chieftain, Omene
