. Revoke all licences or…, South-South leaders warn
Anger reigned in the Niger Delta yesterday, hours after the revelation that northerners owned 83 per cent of oil wells not in control of the international companies.
Consequently, leaders of the oil-rich region have demanded that President Goodluck Jonathan revoke the controversial oil blocs owned by northerners immediately to redress the inherent injustice in the allocation of the oil facilities.
Some of them, however, threatened war if President Jonathan failed to accede to their demand.
But the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, demanded the setting up of a commission of enquiry into the allegation.
In a statement, the forum’s spokesman, Mr. Anthony Sani, called for a thorough investigation into the matter which outcome should be published stating the state of origin of oil bloc owners, production volume and date of acquisition to ascertain the truth.
The Niger Delta leaders, who reacted to the revelation by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, on behalf of his colleagues, said failure by Jonathan to act would precipitate fresh crisis in the region.
They warned that the present arrangement under which virtually all the oil wells were allocated to northerners was not acceptable to them, adding that only an urgent review of the scheme could avert violent reactions by their people.
The leaders also warned that failure by the National Assembly to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, as presented by the executive would ignite “unprecedented” crisis.
The South South Peoples Assembly, SSPA, described the development as “annoying.”
SSPA’s President and a former Governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun, told that Jonathan must come out to redress the anomaly.
Odigie-Oyegun said: “The 10 per cent host communities’ fund as spelt out in the PIB is basic and they must get it because they have suffered for too long.
“We are glad that it has come out that 83 per cent of the oil blocs were allocated to northerners. This should be redressed with urgency.
“The oil blocs should be revoked and reviewed or that every other one to be given out from today should be given to the southerners, especially those whose lives are being degraded by oil exploration.”
The Ijaw National Congress, INC, the umbrella body for the Ijaw ethnic nationality in the zone, also asked Jonathan to revoke the oil blocs, warning that fresh war was looming in the Niger Delta over the issue.
INC’s President, Chief Joshua Benaimaisia, in a telephone interview with National Mirror, accused the northern governors and their people of fuelling the anti-Niger Delta activities in the National Assembly.
Benaimaisia, said: “Another war is in the offing in the Niger Delta if the PIB is not passed as it is. This is total respect for the owners of the resources and we may be forced to ask for total resource control.
“We will control our resources ourselves and nobody will drill any oil in the Niger Delta if the PIB is not passed into law as it is.
“We are demanding Jonathan to revoke all oil blocs in the country. Let them bring all the issues to the table so that we can discuss it. We want a national conference. If the PIB bill fails and derivation is not approved for the oil communities, no more oil exploration will take place in the region until things are done properly.”
The Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Alhaji Mujarhedeen Asari-Dokubo, insisted that the oil blocs should be revoked and the beneficiaries be made to pay reparation over the money they had “illegally” made through the allocation of the oil wells.
“We are demanding that the oil blocs should be revoked and they should be made to pay for what they have criminally stolen from the people of the Niger Delta.
“Jonathan should confiscate these oil wells criminally taken from us; otherwise we will result to self-help. We will do it in our own way; we won’t go to court because we won’t get justice from the courts.
“The head of the Federal High Court is a northerner, the President of the Court of Appeal is a northerner and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, is a northerner. Where are we going to get justice?
“We are not going to court but we are going to repossess what belongs to us by any means necessary.
“Those calling us names have realised what we are fighting for. They attacked us over mere pipeline contracts. These same people talking about PIB and 10 per cent communities’ fund are very insensitive. I think they want war and they are beating the drums of war.
“Everything about oil is controlled by the North. What is left for other parts of the country where the oil comes from?
“We are no fools. It is time to revoke the oil blocs. If there is equity, southerners and northerners should have equal share of the oil blocs. Do they declare their solid minerals and which southerner is mining their solid minerals? How come it is when it is petrol issue that is difficult?” he said.
Similarly, a repentant Niger Delta militant leader, Chief Government Ekpemukpolo, a.k.a. Tompolo, also asked Jonathan to revoke the oil blocs, adding that they should thereafter be distributed equitably to stakeholders across the country, with bias for the people of the oil-rich belt.
The ex-militant commander, who spoke through his Media Assistant, Mr. Paul Bebenimibo, said the prevailing sharing formula of the oil blocs which heavily favoured the North was unacceptable to the people.
The Prof. Pat Utomi-led United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy, UNDEDSS, also demanded that the Federal Government scrap ownership of all oil blocks in Nigeria.
Speaking to newsmen in Lagos, UNDEDSS, through its Secretary-General, Mr. Tony Uranta, said that government should scrap ownership of all oil blocs and begin at zero point to re-allocate them in the spirit of fairness and equity.
“Oil blocs should now be allocated based on federal character principle since the nation is reluctant to give us either total control or make sure the Niger Delta gets what it deserves,” he said.
In Benin, Edo State, the Trade Union Congress, TUC, said it was studying the claim made by Senator Enang.
The TUC National President, Peter Esele, in telephone interview with National Mirror yesterday said: “The TUC is presently in a meeting as you are calling me now. We are already deliberating on the issue. We will make our position known and clear on the matter.
I will inform you and make our position available to you when we take a decision on the issue.”
Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan said he still believed that oilproducing communities deserve more than the 10 per cent provided in the bill. Reacting to the submission that northerners dominated the ownership of oil blocs in the country, Uduaghan said it would be unfortunate if the allegation was true.
However, there are dissenting views from the North. Second Republic Presidential Adviser, Alhaji- TankoYakasai, described the assessment as faulty, adding that the South-South senators who released the figure might have done so out of bias against the North.
Yakasai, who served under ex-President ShehuShagari, challenged the lawmakers to publish those who had benefitted from the allocation to enable Nigerians had independent assessment of the allocation.
“Any honest assessment should contain all the people allocated oil blocs and the volume each individual is packing to enable Nigerians decide who is benefiting more than the other.
“The assessment should also be done state by state or zone by zone, including the totality lifted because it is wrong for anybody to select a few people to make a case.” Tanko quoted American Forbes Magazine, which he described as highly credible as indicating in one of its reports that only four of the 11 Nigerians involved in oil business are from the North, which means that the rest are from the South.
“The money used in floating banks and high profile businesses are realised from oil blocs, so if you publish the names of shareholders in Nigerian banks and their stakes in these banks, you will find out that the North is far below on the ladder,” he said.
The ACF noted that the North had fewer of the rich Nigerians on the Forbes list than their southern counterparts, adding that the investigation would assist to improve on the equitable management of oil blocs in accordance with provisions of the federal character.
The organisation’s statement reads in part: “The attention of Arewa Consultative Forum has been drawn to the allegations on the floor of the Senate that 83 per cent of oil blocs is owned by northerners; and that there should be application of federal character in the allocation of oil blocs.”
“Given the important constitutional provisions that access to all national resources be equitable and conform with provisions for federal character, ACF wishes to appeal to the National Assembly to investigate the allegations and publish the distribution of oil blocs according to state together with their volume and from which dates.
“Or the Federal Government should institute a commission of enquiry to establish the veracity or otherwise of such allegations.”
The forum, however, noted that “ACF is alarmed by the allegations because it is not long ago that the Forbes magazine said 11 Nigerians are now on the list, and that all of them except Dangote who is a manufacturer owe their riches to oil. The North had fewer of the rich Nigerians on the list than the South.”
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