The people and leaders of the oil-producing South-South region of Nigeria, at a consultative meeting with a Federal Government delegation on Tuesday, demanded restructuring of the country, true federalism, together with resource control and state police.
Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta State governor and chairman, South-South Governors’ Forum, who presented the position of the governors and leaders of the geo-political zone at the meeting which held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, said the zone was demanding “true federalism guided by the principle of derivation, revenue sharing and control of resources by each state of the federation as it was the case in the First Republic”.
The meeting came a week after the first scheduled meeting failed to hold, which left the region’s leaders fuming with anger.
At the meeting with presidential delegation led by the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari, Okowa said that the country was not at peace because it had failed to practice true federalism and that it was time to restore the country back to a true federation with all the attributes and nuances of a federal state.
The meeting had in attendance Yusuf Magaji Bichi, DG, Department of State Services (DSS), Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, Inspector General of Police, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information, Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege, and governors of Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Edo States.
Others include Godswill Akpabio (Minister of Niger Delta), Timipre Sylva (Minister of State for Petroleum), Goddy Jedy Agba (Minister of State, Power), Festus Keyamo (Minister of State for Niger Delta), Osagie Ehanire (Minister of Health), among others.
“For us in the South-South, the #ENDSARS protest is a metaphor of almost all that is wrong with us, our refusal to properly understand issues, and imbibe and entrench the virtues of justice, fairness and equity,” Okowa said.
“The previous system of true federalism was jettisoned and it created a powerful centre controlling and distributing all the resources unevenly.
“There was now a strong desire to restructure the country in order to guarantee peace, security, stability and progress of the nation.
“The region demands true federalism and devolution of powers to the states, including creating and managing their own police and security architecture, true fiscal federalism guided by the principle of derivation, revenue sharing and control of resources by each state,” he said.
He said the kind of federation the South-South geopolitical zone desires is one where federating units are constitutionally empowered to create their own structures like local government areas, manage their elections and control their judiciary.
“We are all aware of the huge endowment of this country. As such, it is imperative to stress that with a little bit of efforts, imagination, hard work, sacrifice and leadership, every state of the federation as of today has the ability and capability to contribute to the national purse. This should be encouraged rather than the whole country depending substantially on a region of the country,” Okowa said.
“What is worse and even more painful in this ugly situation is the deliberate lack of understanding, empathy and the uncompromising attitudes of some Nigerians, who have refused to understand the challenges of the South-South region of the country especially, the degradation of the environment and our waters. As a result, most of the demands of the region have remained unattended to while the resources of the region have been used continually to develop other parts of the country,” he said.
The South-South leaders reiterated the call for the relocation of the headquarters of major oil companies, NNPC subsidiaries from Lagos and Abuja to the South-South region.
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike said the excuse of insecurity by the multinationals for not relocating to the South-South region was not tenable.
He stressed that the relocation of the multinational oil companies to the region would help stem restiveness.
He urged the minister of state for petroleum to make history by ensuring the oil companies relocate to the region during his time in office.
The leaders requested immediate implementation of the consent judgment entered in the Supreme Court suit no: SC/964/2016 to enable the South-South region get its share of $55 billion shortfall of collection on deep offshore and inland basin production sharing contracts.
They further called for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the region’s major seaports in Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri in order to enhance the economic development of the South-South region.
Enough is enough
The leaders demanded that the two refineries in Port Harcourt and one in Warri that have continued to bleed the country’s resources in the name of turnaround maintenance should be privatised.
“Enough is enough. Let us now privatise them and in doing so however, allow the states and the region among others, considerable equity in the name of fairness and justice,” Okowa said.
Concerned about the rot in the NDDC, the leaders observed that one of the major failures of the intervention agency is its refusal to forge and foster synergy, consultation and cooperation with the state governments, especially on project location, development and execution.
“We have resolved and we, as the state governments, will no longer allow the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to execute any project (s) in any state of the region without it consulting state governments. Frankly, enough is enough and we have a court judgment to back our position,” he said.
Presidency responds
In his remark, Chief of Staff Gambari said the stakeholders’ meeting was at the instance of President Muhammadu Buhari aimed at meeting and consulting with representatives of the people regarding the recent EndSARS protest.
Gambari, who said he would convey the demands of the region to the president, noted that reports indicated that there were instances where breakdown of law and order was reported across various locations in the South-South states. He lauded the governors of the South-South states for their quick response and actions in addressing the EndSARS crisis.
Beyond the EndSARS issue, he said, the president acknowledges that the citizens in the region have also been dealing with other concerns that are particular to the region such as the degradation of environment due to decades of mishandling and adherence to environmental standards.
