Chuks Okocha
31 January 2008
Abuja — The Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva has appealed to the Federal Government to intervene in the planned job cut by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) as it would have a spiral negative effect on the Nigerian economy.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, Timi Sylva also called on the Federal Government to pay its equity contribution to the oil companies, as it is defaulting in the payment of the mandatory 60 percent of the Joint Venture Partnership.
SPDC had threatened to sack over one thousand staff of its over 3,500 staff strength. This is apart from the move to fire 5,000 staff engaged as contract staff.
The Governor stated: "The threat to sack or reduce its staff strength has nothing to do with the so-called activities of the Niger Delta militancy.No.
" The oil company is asking the FederalGovernment to pay up its sixty percent of the JointVenture Partners. They said that they have been spending and that thegovernment should pay its own 60 percent of equitycontribution. It has nothing to do with the situationin the Niger Delta.
" Honestly, the Federal Government should intervene,because the job cut by SPDC will have spiral effect on the economy and not the Niger Delta alone."
.On why the 36 states agreed to reserve 20 percent of the excess crude allocation to development in a pool account to be managed by the Federal Government,the Bayelsa Governor said: "It is the rights of states to have andcollect their statutorily allocation, but collecting all the money will have and create inflationary trend in the economy, to the extent that the inflation would move to more than a single digit inflation in the economy."
The governor who also reacted to the statement by the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation and FiscalAllocation (RMFAC), Engr. Maman Tukur that the 20 per cent investment is illegal said "what we did was political solution to a political problem and not who is right and who is wrong."
He said it was done in the overall interest of the economy and national interest. Sylva also described the peaceful burial of the father of Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as a sign of peace in the troubled Niger Delta region.
"The progress so far made is most satisfactory. We used the burial to test the peace in Bayelsa state and it has shown that dialogue is greatly paying off." he said.
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