Resource control: Attah, Coomassie, others unprogressive –Clark says

He said “we want nothing less than 50 percent; but if that is too much, at the end of 2005, we agreed that it would 25 percent and the conference said it should be 17 percent.“So, no one should come here to say that the status quo should remain. Those people are very unprogressive…it is […]

He said “we want nothing less than 50 percent; but if that is too much, at the end of 2005, we agreed that it would 25 percent and the conference said it should be 17 percent.
“So, no one should come here to say that the status quo should remain. Those people are very unprogressive…it is very wrong, it is very insulting. So, I believe there is a need for an increase Mr. Chairman not because we are producing the oil, what we are saying is that the area must be restored.”
Debates over resource control took centre stage yesterday as delegates debated whether to jerk derivation formula from 13 percent to as much 50 percent by some proponents, during the consideration of the report of the Committee on Devolution of Power.
The committee, which was co-chaired by Obong Victor Attah and Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie, had elected to maintain the status quo, but this has not gone down well with elder statesman Chief Edwin Clark and few others.
Clark who chronicled the sufferings of people living in oil producing states especially through the environmental degradation they suffer, described the committee members as unprogressive for retaining 13 percent as derivation.
He noted that even a previous conference which held in 2005 recommended 25 percent, lamenting that it was wrong to suggest it shouldn’t be increased nine years later.  
Some delegates agreed on the need to increase the percentage, with Northern delegates however calling for the reintroduction of onshore/offshore dichotomy in the sharing formula for the increase to be fair to all.
Also, some delegates were of the view that derivation should be increased in a gradual manner, side by side with a fund that would be set up to kick start exploration of solid minerals in all states of the federation.
The conference may commence voting on the report today if it concludes debates on issues which include resource control, revenue sharing and development and exploitation of mineral resources nationwide.