Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has described the 13 percent derivation formular used by the Federal Government for revenue sharing for oil producing states as economic deprivation.
He said the national government, while giving a paltry 13 percent to the oil producing Niger Delta states, deprive them of 87 percent, leaving the States to grapple with socio-economic hardship occasioned by their peculiar terrain.
Senator Diri stated this in Otuoke, home town of former President, Goodluck Jonathan, in the ogbia Local Government Area of the State, Friday, during the inauguration ceremony of the reconstructed Onuebum-Otuoke Road.
He said though the State, like sister Niger Delta States, has environmental challenges, leading to the high cost of executing infrastructure projects, his administration has never contemplated using that as an excuse not to develop the state.
He called on the Federal Government to upwardly review the nation’s revenue formular to add value to the exploited Niger Delta States.
Diri explained that he took interest in the Onuebum-Otuoke Road because of what the people suffered during flood seasons, noting that if the resources deposited in the state were properly utilised, they were enough to develop the state.
“It would have been a disservice for me to leave government without rehabilitating the road due to its importance to the community of the former President, students of the federal university, and Bayelsa East in general.
“We’ve difficulty but we have taken our destiny into our hands. That is why we tell the rest of the country that our terrain is not too difficult to develop. The resources are there.
“We only have to harness them justifiably and equitably. We’re not saying we want all. We’re ready to share with the rest of the country but give us above 13 per cent.
“The Constitution states that 13 per cent is the minimum. So, I’m calling on our representatives in the National Assembly that it is time to change that minimum.
“This is why I commend the Federal Government on the tax reform bill. We, as a State, support it 100 per cent. We have made our position known through our representatives in the National Assembly and it is that the proposed 60 or 30 per cent VAT increase should be extended to every other area, including oil and gas.
“By the time our derivation is increased, we will not be constructing a single lane to Otuoke or Brass but double lanes”, he said.
The Tide reports that while Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State inaugurated the Onuebum-Otuoke Road, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas inaugurated the new Legislators quarters, New Yenagoa, in Yenagoa, the State capital.

Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa