‘Why onshore-offshore dichotomy should not return’

What do you think this conference will achieve?What we from the Southern Nigeria and South-South in Particular want, is some power devolution and an acceptable revenue arrangement. Fiscal federalism where people can, and should be in a position to control resources within their own states of origin. That is the interest of my people.It seems […]

What do you think this conference will achieve?
What we from the Southern Nigeria and South-South in Particular want, is some power devolution and an acceptable revenue arrangement. Fiscal federalism where people can, and should be in a position to control resources within their own states of origin. That is the interest of my people.
It seems that every delegate agrees that there is need for devolution of powers, but a point of departure is in revenue sharing. One example is the controversy surrounding the abolition of the onshore/offshore dichotomy. How do you push your case for the retention of the abolition?
Now listen, if you don’t live by the coasts, you cannot claim coastal area. You must live within the coasts; Nigeria has coastal area because of the coastal states that are inside Nigeria. If those coastal states should disappear, Nigeria will be a landlocked nation. Therefore, you cannot, I repeat, you cannot treat them with just bare hands. You cannot tell me that you would have a right to the oil in the sea and that oil is Federal Government oil; no, it cannot be. The 200 nautical miles space that is allowed as what people call continental shelf is not bound to be if there are no coastal states. You cannot play ball on top of water. I am living here and there is an elongation of water as a result of rainfall or flooding, are you saying that that part of the state is no longer owned by that state, it is now Federal Government just because it is covered by water? The water seaward is part of the state that has the coastal boundary. That is what we are saying and it has to stand that way.
A potential source of conflict is the issue of derivation; oil producing states are asking for more, other people are asking for a reduction of…
(Cuts in)…there can’t be a reduction, the constitution is clear that the oil producing states should have a minimum, not maximum, a minimum of 13 percent. Nobody should get themselves confused by possible constitutional arrangement. The constitution we operate today says a minimum of 13 percent. It can only go up; it cannot come down and if people begin to count, oh, we have ministry of Niger Delta, we have NDDC, we have this, we don’t have that. Look at the funding of the NDDC, look at the funding of the ministry of the Niger Delta. Last two years they did no other job other than East-West Road. Is East-West Road only Rivers State’s and oil producing states’ road? These are national carriageways.
There is this accusation that people from your side have been unable to manage the money that they get?
It is a different matter altogether. Management of funds you are given is not only restricted to the people of the Niger Delta. Every single part of Nigeria is given some forms of money; they should be ready to account for it. We are not talking about accountability. Yes, there may be some misgivings, there may be some inappropriate application of public funds, I agree. But that is not fundamental; what is fundamental is the quantum of cash that is deployed back to the area for restitutions. Do you know the environmental problem we have there?
There are suspicions from certain quarters that this National Conference is a cover for the elongation of President Goodluck Jonathan’s government with support from his people in southern Nigeria.
I don’t think so. I can tell you from all the position of authority that I know, there is nothing like that on the table. I am really shocked to hear this from you because I know Jonathan does not have any personal agenda about this matter. Jonathan is reacting purely on what Nigerians are saying that things are not going well. That is why he said discuss all; he didn’t say go and discuss elections only. He said discuss everything. I don’t think there is any, any, I repeat, I don’t think that southern Nigerians are planning for power elongation for Mr. President; no.
We are not interested in bastardising Nigeria’s constitution because our son is a president; I think it is not in our agenda.