Oil Revenue And Northern Governors’ Agitation

The debate on issues of 13 per cent derivation from oil revenue, security challenge posed by incessant bombing by Boko Haram on innocent citizens of Nigeria and the Northern Governors’ agitation for more revenue to be allocated to them is on. Commenting on this issue, Salihu Rufai Alkali had written that;“Since the discovery and exploration of oil in commercial quantities began in Nigeria in the late 1950s, there has been gradual shift from other revenue earning activities like agriculture and mining to this mono product, and today the socio-economic survival of Nigeria has been almost totally dependent on its oil. The consequence of this situation is that it has generated a lot of debates on who benefited more from the revenue derived from oil, especially in the face of Nigeria’s composition of the six geo-political zones. Part of the debate is that the oil industry was built with revenue from other parts of the country, beyond the oil bearing states, but the people in the oil producing areas will immediately counter it with their argument that it is their region that was fetching huge foreign revenue to the country from palm oil, timber, rubber and exportation of other economic crops, before the first oil rig was drilled at Oloibiri in present Bayelsa State in 1953.”

“The agitation, which late Isaac Adaka Boro led some decades back, followed by the struggles of late Ken Saro-Wiwa and lately, the long fighting period between government forces and militant groups in the Niger-Delta region in the last decade, is a fallout of the dissatisfaction of the people of the region over the perceived mismanagement of the oil revenue by allocation of large sums of it to other regions of the country, while the birth land of the oil, continues to wallow in abject poverty. Today, however, just a few years after peace was brokered between the federal government and the Niger-Delta people, Nigeria seems to be returning to the path of progress, there are fresh outbursts emerging on the issue of derivation again. This time, the worry is about the demand by the governors of the Northern states of Nigeria, for their state allocations to be increased. Pundits, especially from southern Nigeria, primarily from the Niger-Delta region, see such demand as outrageous and that the Northern governors have no reason whatsoever to demand for more money. “It is incontrovertible that the states in Northern Nigeria share of troubles too. A vast majority of its people are poor, uneducated and unemployed. Most areas of Northern Nigeria are caught in the deep mud of afflictions, environmental challenges and health problems. A consideration of these facts would prompt anybody to  agree that the Northern governors may be right to have asked for an increment in their allocation. But the issue is not about demanding for more money, it is about utilizing it. The question that has remained unanswered by those agitating for the disbursement of more funds and those demanding that it should not be given is, what happened to all the money previously allocated to all the states in Nigeria, regardless of whether they are oil producing states or not? Experience has shown that a large chunk of the revenue from the federation account is re-directed to private coffers, as soon as they are released at the end of every month after the meeting of the Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC. It is a shame to observe that in a country as rich as Nigeria, a great number of its citizens, whether from the North or the South, continue to live below a dollar per day and sleep on empty stomach, while those who are charged with the mandate of alleviating the suffering of the masses continue to grow robust at their expense. Indeed it is mind burgling when the amounts our public office holders are reported to have looted from public treasury are mentioned, either by the EFCC or international financial institutions where the monies are kept in foreign banks. Our public officers steal not just what they require to live in obscene affluence, but more than what their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will require to live all their lives in luxury without doing a day’s job.”

“As always, the problem with Nigeria is not about allocating funds, it is about corruption, the cankerworm that has gained a pride of place as a cliché in our country. The rate at which corruption is pervading our country has caused people to believe that no matter how little or how much the amount of money disbursed to any part of the country for development purposes are, it will still finds its way to private pockets. The reality is that the deplorable state of roads, schools, health centres and other social amenities around the country, whether in the South-South, South West, South East or in the three geo-political zones in the North is a consequence of the selfish and greedy impulses of the same leaders who continue to argue for and against the allocation of whatever revenue acquired from our national resources, to any part of the country. Nigerian oil, whose value is determined by the vagaries of international market, will eventually dry up one day. Governors with foresight ought to be exploring other areas of improving their internally generated revenue to supplement what comes from the federation account. Total reliance on oil revenue has serious security implications for obvious reasons, and the earlier state governors seek for alternative means of generating income, the better for the people of their states. Luckily, every state in the country is endowed with several mineral resources that can be exploited to raise additional revenue for the states. Some proactive governors are already looking inwards and we expect their colleagues to take a cue from them, rather than dissipating energy and scarce resources on a near futile campaign for review of revenue allocation.”

In agreement with Salihu Rufai Alkali’s view: “The time for affirmative action has come. The governors of the northern states of Nigeria must realise that it is no longer wise to continue to swim in wealth acquired from the oil revenue, while their people continue to suffer. They should, therefore, try to use whatever revenue is disbursed to them, plus those generated within their states, to develop their domain, rather than continue to request for more money that they may end up not using for the good of the impoverished people of their states, who in the first instance elected them into office to manage their resources. The governors must provide their social responsibility to the people by ensuring that state commissioners and other government officials who fail in their duty by misusing public funds, are made to bear the full weight of the law. There must be transparency in government in all levels. There is a saying that anyone who is faithful in little will also be faithful in much. Perhaps by taking the suggestion raised above into consideration and applying it, the governors of the northern states may be able to salvage the misinformed image which people in other regions of the country have of them and prove that they too are contributors to the continuous existence of the national entity called Nigerian in their own way, and equally prove that they deserve the right to demand for allocation of more funds for the development of their states.”

I want allied the Christian Community position in South South Zone with the positions of the Speakers of South South Zone as well as that of the Governors of South South Zone that: “the introduction of ‘fiscal federalism’ and not the review of the revenue sharing formula as argued by the coalition of northern leaders would make states develop in accordance with its capability.” Re-echoing the Communiqué of the Governors of South South Zone, he said:  “On the issue of revenue allocation, the meeting endorsed the decision of the South-South governors at their meeting in Calabar, March 13, 2012, as well as the agreement reached by the Speakers of the South-South states Houses of Assembly at their meeting on March 29, 2012, which, inter alia, regretted the attempt to link the increasing insecurity in parts of northern Nigeria to the revenue sharing formula and indeed the unfortunate and misplaced calls for a review. “The issue to be addressed is the introduction of fiscal federalism, “the communiqué added.

On the non-exploitation of other mineral resources in different parts of the country, the governors said the introduction of fiscal federalism and resources control will encourage each state of the federation to control its resources and develop in accordance with its capability.

They urged the country and the states to focus on agriculture which would allow all states to contribute significantly to the national pursue rather than the current over-dependence on oil from the South-South region.”

To be continued.

Lewis Akpogena