Tordue Salem
2 September 2008
The House of Representatives may begin an investigation into allegations against Mobil Oil Producing Company for allegedly denying a Nigerian inventor, Dr. Clement Uwemedimo of $8.7 trillion being accumulated as royalty on his patent.
Uwemedino who invented the anti-corrosive special paint used in crude oil exploration and exploitation worldwide has accused Mobil Oil Producing of backing out of a patent agreement in 1980 that he would get $2 per of every barrel of the crude produced by the oil company, which has now accumulated to trillions.
Members of the House from the Niger Delta where the inventor comes from are said to have concluded arrangements to move a motion compelling the National Assembly to mandate its public petitions committee to investigate the matter.
Meanwhile, the inventor has also promised to petition President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua over the matter, insisting that he is the owner of the patent and would not give up on the fight to have what is due to him paid by MObil.
Uwemedimo, who disclosed this in a chat with newsmen said on inventing the product, he entered into an agreement with Mobil in 1982 that for every barrel of crude oil lifted by Mobil, he will receive two dollars as royalties but the company defaulted in the payment and refused to honour the agreement since then.
According to him, 'the meeting took place on February 2, 1980, when I officially wrote to operations manager of Mobil Oil company on my discovery and on 26 May 1980, I officially announced to oil companies the successful manufacturing of the paint.
The American trained soil scientist said he decided to seek redress in court in 2002, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo issued him a non-conventional patent certificate as the true inventor and owner of the anti-corrosive special paint.
Operating under the company Comandclem, Uwemedimo said: "We took Mobil to court in 2002 and the first ruling was made on May 22, 2002 at the Federal High Court, Calabar. Mobil went to Appeal Court but the Appeal Court ruled in favour of me (Comandclem).
The matter then went up to the Supreme Court on May 22, 2006. The Supreme Court discussed the case and it returned to the lower court to decide the amount of royalties accruable to us.
"Since then, Mobil has been sending people to me that they want to negotiate with me. But I cannot do that because if I dare do that, I will be mortgaging the rights of Nigerians. I will wait for the court to do the right thing", he said.
He expressed dismay with the attitude of Mobil, which he said has benefitted immensely from his sweat but has refused to honour their agreement.
"What Mobil has done is not just to me but to all Nigerians because I intend to share this wealth with all Nigerians; to help fight poverty and youth restiveness amongst our youths. I implore all Nigerians to condemn this act of injustice by a well known multinational that has benefitted so much from Nigeria."
They cannot do this in America and go scot free but they want to try that in Nigeria ".
Rev. Uwemedimo who has promised to share the royalties with Nigerians has already set up a foundation called King Clement Foundation to register interested people across the country as patentees to benefit from the huge royalties being expected.
He has also promised to set up cottage industries in parts of the country to provide gainful employment for the people as well as build 40 new towns for developmental purposes. According to the inventor, each registered patentee would be entitled to N30,000 monthly subsidy when the foundation takes off properly.
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This article is not worth a dime on the paper it is written on. Not that the issue raised by the article is not relevant but the time spent on probing the matter adds more expense to our budget to the enrichment of members of the N/A.
I move a motion to change the National Assembly to “National Probe Assembly” The national assembly rejected the FOIB that would have been a good resource to utilize to help solve zillions of our unsolved mysteries. When would Nigerian leaders stop playing their games and do the job the nation selected them for yes, selected them but not elected them because they are not accountable to no one but themselves.