Following the position of Niger Delta governors who recently demanded the payment of derivation fund from the excess crude account, and even as some have decided to drag the Federal Government to court, the former executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Denzil Kentebe has urged the governors to go further to the National Assembly for legislation on the issue.
He said that there is need for the governors to approach the National Assembly to ensure that certain laws are put in place that will compel the Federal Government to pay what is due the Niger Delta states on derivation from the excess crude.
Kentebe who disclosed this in an interview with aviation correspondents at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa on Monday, shortly before he left for Abuja, noted that the Niger Delta states have the rights to receive derivation fund, because the impact of oil exploration directly affects them and their environment.
He commended the governors for making such demand from the federal government because it is the Niger Delta land that is being polluted, adding that oil spills are all over the place, especially in the Bayelsa State area, while the Ogoni clean-up has not yet been done after many years of promise.
“The National Assembly should ensure that a law is put in place so that money due Niger Delta states on derivation is paid to them.
“Also, the law should ensure that governors utilise the funds for what it is meant for, and not to be diverted to other things,” he said.
The ex-NCDMB scribe however urged the International Oil Companies (IOCs) to do more to minimise gas flaring in the environment, pointing out that Nigeria still flares gas which many countries have stopped and also urged federal government to push-up the IOCs to do the right things, as well as sanction them where necessary.

Corlins Walter