A former Secretary
to the Government of the Federation and delegate to the National Conference, Chief Oluyemisi Falae, has thrown his weight behind the Niger Delta region, saying it deserves 100 per cent control of its resources.
Speaking in an interview, Falae urged other states of the Federation to approach the issue of resource control and derivation with the recognition that oil-producing states had full ownership of their resources.
Falae argued that the owners of lands where oil is being explored and produced deserve to take all the profits as a result of oil companies’ operations on their land.
He said, “What are they fighting for? Resource control is much larger than derivation. Resource control is what it says it is — control over natural resources. That’s not derivation. But in our discourse it’s being reduced to derivation.
He said at the moment, states with petroleum resources cannot determine what percentage they want from the derivation fund as the whole country currently depends on oil revenue and any effort to lay claim to 100 per cent control of the oil revenue will cause problem.
He added, “In view of this, in the next five or ten years, these other states would have developed alternative sources of revenue and in time, the oil-producing states can have total control of profits accruing from their resources. Similarly, other states with other revenue-generating mineral resources will have 100 per cent of the profits coming from their areas.
“In the next three or four years, I believe some states will begin to generate their own revenue from a number of resources. In another 10 years, most states should be comfortable if they are serious in exploiting the natural resources in their areas,” he said.