ABUJA— THE South- South People’s Conference (SSOPEC) is threatening to shut down all oil and gas operations in the Niger Delta once the suit filed by the 19 northern states and two South-West states to void the act abrogating the on-shore/off-shore oil dichotomy commences.
Already, a total of N37.90 billion has been accumulated in the escrow account dedicated to the 13 per cent off-shore derivation meant for sharing among the littoral oil producing states.
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SSOPEC, in a communique at the end of an emergency meeting in Yenagoa where it reviewed the suit, cautioned “those misguided governors and their cronies/ supporters against beating the drums of war,” warning that there would be no oil/gas operations in the Niger Delta “until the case is disposed of.”
It condemned “in the strongest terms the inflammatory reaction of those nineteen (19) northern governors and three (3) of their South-Western counter-parts and cohorts to the Onshore/Offshore Dichotomy Abrogation Act. SSOPEC views this reaction as a misconception, dangerous, provocative and vexatious to say the least, which epitomizes a trivialization and total disregard of the age-long suffering and sacrifice of the South-South zone in the contraption called Nigeria.
“The vociferous demand for an establishment of HYPADEC as a parallel commission to NDDC. genuinely established for the amelioration of the irreversible damage done to the ecosystem of the Niger Delta is a classical example of this misconception and crass insensitivity of these groups who see the Niger Delta as a region donated to them by God only to be persistently and perpetually milked and exploited with impunity and without conscience.
“That the Supreme Court judgement on which they have placed so much premium, and which is in fact inspired the current action at the apex court was the most controversial and criticised decision since independence because of its political bias in favour of non-oil generating states and lack of convincing and internationally acceptable legal reasoning. To this end, the said judgement being in our opinion a judicial legislation, merits a review and that steps will be taken in that direction.
“That considering the monumental injustice done to the people of the South-South by successive governments in their sustained quest to control their natural resources, the political solution preferred and actualised by the Onshore/Offshore Dichotomy Act, though far from meeting the aspirations of the zone, was reluctantly accepted to keep Nigeria one.
“That consequent upon the above, SSOPEC cautions those misguided governors and their cronies/supporters against beating the drums of war. In the light of this, therefore, SSOPEC warns all concerned that in the event of the commencement of the Supreme Court proceedings, all oil and gas operations in the Niger Delta region shall be stopped forthwith until the case is disposed of.
“Premised on the above and taking also account of the deep-seated and pervading discontents among various ethnic nationalities making up Nigeria, the convening of Sovereign National Conference has become imperative and should not be postponed any further if the unity of Nigeria must be guaranteed.
“That SSOPEC is aware that there is a concerted effort by their oppressors to systematically uproot and evacuate the people of the Niger Delta so that those people can fully own and control their God-given resources (oil and gas). Hence, the Niger Delta people shall notwithstanding their perceived numerical disadvantage resist this criminal ambition with the last drop of their blood.
“SSOPEC notes with grave concern the unwarranted continued and increasing militarisation of the Niger Delta. This is unacceptable. In Nigeria, the role of the military in relation to aid civil authority is restricted to the restoration of law and order after a total break down. Regrettably, the military has become an army of occupation over a conquered territory in the Niger Delta.
“While SSOPEC notes the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgement on Bakassi, nothing should be done to jeopardise the interest of the indigenes. Government should do everything possible to protect the interest and welfare of the Bakassi people in line with their inalienable indigenous rights and cultural heritage."
Idle off-shore derivation hits N37.90b
Meanwhile, the sum of N37.90 billion has been accumulated in the escrow account dedicated for the 13 per cent off-shore derivation meant to be shared among the littoral oil producing states of the Niger Delta. Presidency sources said the money was sitting in the account, undistributed owing to the inability of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to undertake the delimitation of the sea boundaries between the beneficiary states.
Officials of the commission said the Committee on Oil and Gas of the organisation headed by Gen. Bagudu Mamman, which has responsibility to carry out the exercise, along with other agencies of the Federal Government, has been bogged down by the under-funding of the RMAFC.
Following the abrogation of the on-shore/off-shore dichotomy in February, the littoral states should have been enjoying the 13 per cent derivation on off-shore oil revenue but this was not to be until after a proper delimitation of the affected area to determine which oil wells fall into the statutory provision and which states own them.
The new law stipulates that littoral states are to enjoy the 13 per cent derivation on oil wells located with 200 isobars.
It was gathered that Gen. Mamman and his colleagues in the Oil and Gas Committee were eager to move into the ocean but were unable to do so for logistic reasons. Officials said the theoretical work on the data regarding the boundary delimitation had been completed at the commission’s headquarters but the final decisions could only be arrived at after physical verification of the data and claims by affected states.
The Gen. Mamman Committee which is supposed to be field-based has the mandate of ensuring that all accruals from the nation’s oil sector get into government coffers and that the oil producing states of the federation receive their just derivation through scientifically determined indices.
The activities of the committee were said to have been negatively affected by the drastic cut in the revenue commission’s budget with the National Assembly refusing to approve the commission’s capital budget and also reducing its overheads budgetary provision to N30 million. It was a far cry from the over N200 million submitted to it by the executive and less than 20 per cent of the commission’s overheads budget for 2003 which was about N188 million.
It was learnt that the drastic cut in the budget which has put the organisation in a dilemma was to punish the commission for spearheading the current monetisation programme of benefits of political office holders. The situation, it was learnt, has brought about low key of activities by the commission which was said to have appealed to the president to rescue it from the difficult financial situation if it must carry our its constitutional responsibilities.
It was learnt that state governors of the oil producing areas, particularly those to benefit from the recent abrogation of the dichotomy, have shown interests in assisting the committee to enable the revenue commission conclude its work as quickly as possible, but that was considered an aberration in the scheme of things.
