Daily Independent (Lagos)
Festus Owete And Otei Oham
28 October 2008
Abuja — Federal legislators are out to investigate how over N5 trillion voted to upgrade the Niger Delta in the last eight years was spent.
The House of Representatives Niger Delta Committee, which made the announcement in Abuja on Monday, also pledged to review the 13 percent derivation formula for oil bearing states.
Committee Chairman, Abdul Ningi, broke the news as Speaker Dimeji Bankole directed the Committee to recommend to the House for sanction anyone or organisation that ignores its invitation to testify.
Ningi reiterated that the Niger Delta lacks growth "yet accounts for more than 90 percent of the country's exchange receipts. It is our concern, therefore, that over a period of eight years, more than N5 trillion was appropriated for the region and we cannot comprehend why there is no developmental effect. We will look into that."
He noted that the region has a history of agitation which has evolved from the pre-colonial days over development problems, issues of derivation, resource control, to the current dangerous trend of criminality "now mutating to a phenomenon that is threatening to overwhelm us all."
Ningi lamented the relationship in the last 50 years between the local communities and the multi-national oil companies which "enjoy two worlds" not available to them in other parts of the world.
"There is a face-off between the local communities and the oil companies over compensation, skirmishes among the communities over land tenure rights, and unresolved fiscal issues between the federal and state governments. All these are now being sought to be addressed by the Assembly of Nigerian people."
The Committee will also examine the Land Use Decree, Offshore/Onshore Dichotomy Act, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act and the Pipeline Act to determine if they require review.
Ningi assured that it will invite all stakeholders, including the militants, to dialogue, and "if the militants cannot talk to us, we will meet them in the creeks."
He applauded the Federal Government for creating the Ministry of Niger Delta as well as a Technical Committee on the region, but said the House Committee would work independently because of the powers of the legislature to make laws.
Inaugurating the Committee, Bankole, represented by his Deputy, Usman Nafada, warned that the House would sanction individuals, groups and oil companies that refuse to honour invitation from the Committee.
He regretted that only the Governors of Rivers and Abia States, out of the nine in the Niger Delta, sent representatives to the inauguration.
He also noted that the oil companies turned up, except Agip and Total.
"The House of Representatives has taken a lot of interest in that region and we cannot allow anybody to frustrate it, because frustrating the House amounts to frustrating the nation.
"The measures adopted so far have not fully addressed the disturbing issues confronting the Niger Delta. This, therefore, points to the need for a change of strategy as well as the intensification of our commitment towards tackling these problems once and for all."
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