THE crisis rocking the National Conference over derivation deepened yesterday following the abortion of the meeting of the Chairman of the Conference, Justice Idris Kutigi with the group of 50 wise men known as the Consensus Group, chairmen and deputies of the 20 standing committees.
Only 20 or about 22 per cent of the 90 delegates expected at the meeting showed up, forcing the leadership to turn the gathering into an informal one.
Consequently, a stormy session is expected on Monday when the plenary reconvenes, as southern delegates insist on their opposition to proposed allocation of five percent of federal revenue to rebuild insurgency-ravaged areas of the North because the move would increase violence in the country.
Following the deadlock and abrupt adjournment of the plenary last Thursday on account of the failure to arrive at a compromise on revenue sharing, derivation formula and insurgency fund, Kutigi had scheduled yesterday’s meeting with the wise men for 11 am.
However, Saturday Vanguard gathered that only 20 delegates turned up for the meeting. Apparently not ready for the meeting and after some hours of waiting by the delegates, Kutigi was said to have asked his deputy, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi to tell the delegates that the leadership was aware of their presence but they should brainstorm and brief the leadership later.
The move, which turned the gathering into an informal one as opposed to the expected serious meeting left the delegates confused because the leadership of the Conference called for the meeting and not the delegates.
Delegates who showed up included Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, Umara Kumalia, Prof. Jubril Aminu, Gen. Geoffrey Ejiga, Fola Adeola, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Obong Victor Attah, Senator Ibrahim Ida, Alhaji Tanko Yankassai; Senator Musa Adede, Evelyn Shekarau, Comrade Issa Aremu, Mrs Bola Ogunrinade and Ledun Mitee.
Last Thursday, delegates were divided along regional lines and failed to come to a compromise on how revenue should be shared. The plenary session ended abruptly without a final decision on critical issues of revenue sharing formula from the Federation Account and derivation principle and they could not conclude voting on recommendations of the Devolution of Power Committee led by Obong Victor Attah and former Inspector- General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Coomasie.
The Elders Committee through its Spokesman and delegate on the platform of Elder Statesmen Category, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari had on Wednesday presented the outcome of the committee’s meeting which raised the derivation from 13 per cent to 18 per cent.
It also resolved that there shall be a National Intervention Fund which shall be five per cent of the annual revenue accruing to the account of the Federal Government for the stabilization, rehabilitation and reconstruction of areas affected by terrorism and insurgency, in the first instance in the North East of Nigeria, North Central, North West and any other part of the country.
The five per cent National Intervention Fund for areas affected by terrorism and insurgency, in the first instance in the North East of Nigeria, North Central, North West sparked off protests among delegates from the South-South, South-West and South-East, who said it must not read the north alone but any part of the country that may be affected by terrorism and insurgency.
The position of the North on the five per cent National Intervention Fund, it was gathered yesterday, is that three per cent should go to North East because of the level of destruction, while the North-Central and North-West should get one per cent each.
However, strong indications emerged yesterday that other geo- political zones of the country will on Monday kick against the fund being for the north only. The argument is that the money will still come from the South-South and the move was likened to increasing derivation by five per cent and taking it away through another means. The southern delegates noted that the North agreed to increase derivation from 13 per cent to 18 per cent and was now trying to collect the five per cent increment using the rehabilitation fund.
Besides, they argued that when the states in the north start enjoying the fund, insurgency may be fuelled in other parts of the country or the militants may as well go back to the creeks, adding that leaders may even sponsor insurgency in other parts of the country to benefit from the fund.
THE Association of Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria (TROMPCON) has threatened that it would stop the circulation of oil to other parts of the country should northern leaders insist on a downward review of the 13 per cent oil derivation fund.
This was part of the communique issued by the association’s National Executive Committee (NEC) at the end of its second quarter meeting, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Monday.
The position of the traditional rulers was in response to the call by the northern delegates at the ongoing national conference in Abuja for a reduction in the derivation fund accruable to the oil-producing communities, scrapping of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Ministry of the Niger Delta Affairs.
Public Relations Officer of the association, His Highness Suanu Baridam, Gbenemene of Bangha Kingdom II, told newsmen that the present 13 per cent arrangement was the statutory right of the oil-producing states, adding that should the North have its way, he and his colleagues would be compelled to stop oil circulation to other parts of the country.
“The oil-producing states have a statutory right to 13 per cent oil derivation fund because they are the ones sustaining the entire country but what they are getting in return, in terms of the degradation of the environment is not commensurate.
“It is sad that some leaders from the North are insisting on a downward review of the fund. If it is reviewed, TROMPCON will resist and we will not allow our oil to leave the region. This is not a threat; it is what we are going to do.
“In fact, we told our sons at the confab to negotiate for 50 per cent. Initially, we wanted nothing less than the total control of our resources.
“We want to be in a position to decide what to give to the centre because our people, in whose communities the oil is being produced, bear the brunt most. We want a larger percentage in order to facilitate development in our communities,” he said.
Reading the communique earlier, TROMPCON National Chairman, His Majesty Rapheal Ikegwuruka, praised President Goodluck Jonathan for setting up the confab, noting that it sought to encourage participants to be positive minded in ensuring a one-Nigeria agenda.
Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu was the deputy president of the Senate between 2000 and 2007 and is currently, a delegate at the National Conference from the North-Central zone. In this interview, he gives insights into the deliberations of his Committee on Devolution of Powers and how the eminent Nigerians in the committee turned mutual suspicion to camaraderie. Excerpts
How would you describe your time in the ongoing conference?
So far, I can describe the conference as a huge success. Huge success in the sense that for the first time we brought people from different parts of the country with divergent views and they are being given the opportunity to speak out their minds on issues that have been very, very controversial in the nation. And as you can see when we started debating the president’s speech, everybody’s position came out very clearly because there were some people who came with a mindset that I am here to achieve this. It is either this or nothing.
Like my committee, the Devolution of Power, the committee carries most of the sensitive issues. So, there were heated moments that people almost become like Mike Tyson and the rest of them. Of course, appeals from well meaning members calmed down nerves and we brought people back to table to discuss meaningfully and so on. The good news is that in spite of all these positions, we were able to arrive at consensus or at least unanimous decisions in almost all the issues.
I believe that we need to make sacrifices. But the most important thing, the greatest news of the century is the fact that in the course of this work, we have discovered that every state in Nigeria has not one, two or three different types of mineral resources including the oil producing states.
If not that we have neglected the solid minerals sector; if we pay attention to it and develop the solid minerals sector; look at bitumen, I think we have the largest deposit in the world but it is untapped in Ondo State.
And then, we are now importing bitumen for our roads. Why? We could have sufficient for our use and then export the rest to the needy world but we are not doing that. They said that the gold in Zamfara is even better than the one in Ghana, but it remains in the ground and so on and so forth.
I believe that one of the greatest decisions we took at the Devolution of Power Committee which I am very happy about and I hope that government will immediately put to use, is to say that 4.5 percent of our national revenue should go into development of other resources that are not tapped yet, so that in the next 5 years or so, every state of this federation will bring something to the table and when everybody sees everybody contributing, then, of course, the issue of looking at other people as parasites will not be there. There will be more unity, better understanding, friendliness, respect and so on.
Some people felt shortchanged with the decision not to increase the derivation percentage?
Well, I don’t know. Apart from one person that I noticed talking to the press or feeling bad about the decisions that we took, I am not aware of any member of our committee feeling bad about the decisions that we took. What is important is that we should remember that while the people where these resources are being found came with the intention of gaining more than they currently have, there are those who came with the feeling that offshore should be totally removed.
As of now, Akwa Ibom takes the lion share from the federation account. If you remove offshore, Akwa Ibom will become like Zamfara; will become like Jigawa, because there will be nothing for them at all to share. They don’t have even a single onshore resource.
So, many people came and said look the land belongs to the state but high seas of the nation belong to the nation. So, therefore, there is no justification for any state to claim resources from the high sea and they were very, very dogged and resolute about it. Now, for us to be convinced and allow status quo to remain, it wasn’t an easy task. So, the South-South gained tremendously. That they were able to at least argue their way and allow onshore/offshore dichotomy to remain is a major success for the South-South delegates where this oil is found.
Would you say now that the cord of unity between the south and the north has been strengthened after the work?
I can say that your observation is absolutely correct because even in my committee, I don’t know, it was not arranged, not by deliberate arrangement. But the sitting arrangement so happened that those from the north just happened to be sitting together.
What happened was that some people arrived earlier on the day of the beginning of the job. Naturally you know when you are conversing, you will sit down. So, by the time the leadership came and sat down, everybody just remained where he was sitting. And it so happened that on the right hand side of the leadership, starting from me sitting very close to them was about 99 percent of northerners. But later on, some people on their own just decided to change their seats and mix.
That was the beginning. So, to say that what started even from the sitting arrangement, people who were hostile and discriminatory to each other ended up embracing each other for a job well done, I think it is a major, major achievement.
Some of you have formed the National Unity Forum. Is this an agenda Some people are now wondering whether the conference is now skewed to the realization of the second term ambition of the President even though you spoke on issues that touch on the conference.
Thank you very much for asking this question. First and foremost, the national unity forum was actually formed immediately we were inaugurated.
We discovered that so many of us are from the National Assembly and there were many of us who had interacted politically at different fora at different times. So, this special conference became a rallying point for most of us. There are people I have not seen for about 30 years and yet we were together during NRC, NPN era. But we are being reunited courtesy of this conference.
And we know that all over the world, in conferences like this, there are interest blocs; like-minded people who come together and brainstorm on the issues and see how all of them can actually go on the same direction. We are over a hundred members. We call ourselves National Unity Forum.
(VANGUARD) Madam Annkio Briggs is an environmental activist from the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. She is a federal government delegate and member, Committee on Devolution of Power in the ongoing national conference in Abuja.
In this interview, she told Saturday Vanguard that Niger-Delta people will never accept a reduction from the current 13 percent derivation on oil resources, submitting that they are craving for more. Excerpts:
How would you assess your committee works so far? Our work is not easy because of the terms of reference, the type of work we have to do in our committee.
It is where the real issues are: the fiscal federalism, resource ownership, derivation, sharing formula. These are the things that we are discussing. These are the things that the north talks about, the things that the south talks about. So, it is hectic.
It does appear that you have not really reached any agreement on any major issue? Well, these are very controversial issues and the people sitting around the table discussing them are Nigerians but from different parts of Nigeria. We have different passions for the region that we come from and we want different things.
The north thinks that the south south, for instance, is getting too much and of course, the south south thinks that we are not getting enough because we want 100 percent resource ownership. We want to take our resources back because the federal government took our resources from us.
The 1999 constitution has seen to that where all the resources of gas and oil found in the Niger-Delta mainly is what this country is using to sustain itself though there are different resources: solid minerals and all that in other parts of Nigeria that are yet to be explored and exploited.
So, we have discussed along those lines. We have called on the federal government on, for instance, the issue of item 39 in the constitution which refers to the minerals, oil and gas, solid and all that.
Though we couldn’t get that item into the concurrent list, we have suggested and have agreed that the states that own the resources should be involved in the activities of the exploration and the exploitation of those resources that are in their states.
That means that in the not too distant future, when the other resources from other parts of the country will begin to be exploited in the north and in so many other places, the states that own those resources will be involved in the decisions that need to be made to explore and exploit them. So, the states will have first choices.
The states should be involved, the states should be able to bring in partners that will partner with them on their own share of the involvement to explore and exploit.For over 30 years going to 50, we didn’t have and still don’t have those opportunities and yet we are fighting for other states that will exploit their resources in the future.
That’s one aspect of it. Then we also went further to compel the federal government to create funds that they will use to explore and exploit. So, we haven’t just said that they should do something about exploring the resources in other states, we want to commit them to do so.
We want to compel the federal government to do so. Even though we have not been able to get item 39 out into the concurrent list, I want to believe that when what we have done goes to plenary, that people will see the sense in it and support it.
Then it will become law while we also hope that out of this conference, we will be able to get a new constitution. If we do, then it will be written into the new constitution. But the important and critical thing is that the states should be able to have access to their resources and have a right to explore them.
Now, some people have assumed; I have been asked for instance that you people have reached consensus on resource control, but no, we not have reached consensus on resource control.
Now, on the heels of these issues came the demand from the north that there should be a reduction of the current 13 percent derivation to 5 percent. How do you take that?
Well, that statement is in the document that circulated last week or so at the conference where the north has a document for its delegates in the conference and the map of Nigeria was on front of that document, the north is claiming to own 80 percent land mass of Nigeria and the south west, south east and south south are in 20 percent of the land mass.
They also said northern Nigeria is the back bone and strength of Nigeria. When I looked at it, I laughed and I said, if we produce 90 something percent of the wealth of Nigeria and the north will call itself the strength and backbone of Nigeria, then we that are producing 98 percent of what is sustaining Nigeria, what should we call ourselves?
Therefore, that document that says between 0 to 5 percent is just something they have said. But it can never be reduced from 13 percent.We are definitely going to expect more.
Don’t forget that we have demanded for 100 percent resource ownership so that we can pay tax to the federal government. I do not believe that we have agreed to move away from that position. Now, all of us even at plenary have stated that we have been asked to look for 100 percent resource ownership and pay tax to the federal government.
So, I know that Niger-Delta people will never accept a reduction on the 13 percent. We all know too definitely that we will not accept the status quo to remain. We will not leave the conference agreeing to that. That is to say that we will walk away with nothing less than 13 percent.
And I think that every reasonable person in Nigeria whether you are from the north or south also knows that we are not going to walk away from there with 13 percent. There must be an increase and that increase must be at a percentage that is going to be acceptable to the Niger-Delta people. Before the conference began, there was a presidential order of no- go areas. In your own reckoning so far, would say that there are places the conference has not touched?
There is only one place that the president said should not take place at the conference. You can’t come in and say I want to break away from Nigeria.That is what we were told but apart from that, we are allowed to go into any direction, into any area that we want.
But then, that is not too much of a hardship because I genuinely believe that majority of Nigerians will not want Nigeria to break up. When people say that, it is out of frustration and anger. It is hitting your head against a brick wall in certain instances.
Like when you look at the issue of resource ownership, when you look at the argument that the Niger-Delta people are getting too much and then if you compare the sacrifice that the Niger-Delta region has made and is continuing to make, we don’t have any hope of being able to feed ourselves, to farm.
Our means of livelihood is been ripped away from us. The pollution we suffer, the degradation in the Niger-Delta is the worst seen anywhere in the world. So when you look at all of those things and you hear people say we are getting too much, my reaction is “leave the oil where it is.
Leave the gas. Don’t explore so that we can have a chance to recover. Go and do something else. So, there is no no-go area as afar as I am concerned because we are not going there to break up Nigeria. So, should we expect a new Nigeria after the conference?
That is the hope. But then, you really cannot predict what a new Nigeria would be until we go back to the plenary, until we know what we are willing to live with and what we are willing to live without.
As a mother, can you share your feelings on the abduction of Chibok girls who have been away for about three weeks now?
I have four children and by the grace of God, they have all, at some point, taken their WAEC exams. I know the ages of my children when they took their exams. They were like about 16 years. But for people who may not have started school the age of 5 or something, if you started school at the age of 8 or 10, maybe you are 18 or something like that. But whatever the age, if even it is 16, to me, I knew what my children looked like at the age of 16. Even at the age of 16, I couldn’t let them out of my sight without knowing where they were per time.
So, as a mother, I don’t think that any mother will do any less knowing that girls who were at that age of 15 and 16, while they were in bed, in their pajamas, night gowns, that men came in and began taking them away from about 9 pm. And this went down till about 3am. Of course, the parents will be highly traumatized. If you are looking for your child, if a child is dead, God forbids, at least, there is a finality about it. Then you can sit down and mourn that child in one spot. But if the child is missing, it is traumatic. I am in no way or position to say that these children were not taken as being speculated. So, I join everybody in saying that we want these children back in Nigeria from wherever they have been taken to.
Only 20 or about 22 per cent of the 90 delegates expected at the meeting showed up, forcing the leadership to turn the gathering into an informal one.
