Oil Communities, States At War Over N7.28 trn 13% derivation

APPARENTLY tired of waiting for the 13 percent derivation fund to trickle down to them through state governments, communities where oil is extracted are asking for direct disbursement of the fund to them. This is like pushing ahead with a clause in the yet-to-be-passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which allows payment of 10 percent of oil earnings, called Host Fund, to oil bearing communities.

    A new wave of agitation across the oil-producing areas of Nigeria is aimed at forcing the Federal Government to release the funds directly to oil communities.
Oil producing states in the country are said to have received about N7.28 trillion since 1999 as derivation fund. While this is so, communities where the oil is taken claim they have continued to wallow in widespread and dehumanising poverty, occasioned by near absence of basic physical and social infrastructue.
   A renewed agitation was flagged off, when different women groups forged a common front to demand accountability in oil-minerals-producing areas.
 The contention is that the nine oil and gas producing states of Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross-Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Imo and Abia have not shown the kind of development that is commensurate with the amount of money they received since the implementation of the 13 percent derivation formula.
    A twist to the agitation is the incorporation of the aged women to join in the planned half-nude protest in Abuja.
 Since the 13percent derivation formula commenced, governors of the nine oil and mineral producing states, who have collected over N8trillion in the past 13years, have been seen to lag behind in terms of general development.
   Godwin Erahon, a community leader from Ughu, one of the largest oil and gas producing areas in Orhionmwon Local Government Council of Edo State, said the renewed push for the “Federal Government to do the right thing,” especially in Edo,  is necessitated by the fact that  host communities do not feel the impact of the oil money. According to Erahon, neither the Federal government nor the State government has shown enough commitment to the welfare of the oil communities.
    He said the Edo State Oil and Gas Producing Areas Development Commission ((EDOSOPDEC) established by the state government, has not done enough to develop the areas under its jurisdiction. “Yes, they (EDOPDEC) have not done enough, but they have done far better than NDDC has ever attempted to do,” said Erahon.
   “The gas that powers Aso Rock, a very large part of Abuja and some other West African countries under the West African gas project is sourced from Oben area, my fatherland. This one came to the fore in 2007/2008 when there was problem and that gas plant was shut down. They had to send a delegation from Abuja that if that place was shut down for more than 48 hours, there will be black out in Aso Rock and that would be a threat to national security.
   “As we speak, all these communities that we are talking about are in darkness, except a few that were able to mobilise their own funds to draw electricity from neighbouring Delta State. In Edo State, the Federal Government has a lot of questions to answer as to how the fund meant for the development of our area is being managed.”
 The complaints are the same in Ondo State, as stakeholders say the perceived lull in OSOPADEC has compelled agitation for direct ownership of the 13 percent derivation fund. With the lethargy that seemed to have become the lot of OSOPADEC since the inception of the Olusegun Mimiko administration — alleged by critics to have starved the Commission of statutory funding — a new agitation that sought to take the control of the derivation money from the state government is getting more strident by the day.
In Abia, women and youths are demanding accountability. The State government had, in 2010, established the Abia State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ASOPADEC), with the mandate to develop and compensate oil-producing areas for the devastation of their land, due to oil exploration/exploitation activities.
 The Law provides that 30 percent of the state’s share of the 13 percent Derivation should be applied to the wellbeing and development of the state’s oil producing communities.
     Yet, the oil communities say they are not getting enough impact from such ‘palliatives.’
  Pioneer and serving chairman of ASOPADEC, Sam Nwogu, said the Commission is allocated between N100 and N500 million on monthly basis, even as the state governor directed that the release should be on first charge.
 He said the State gets the least derivation allocation among the nine oil-producing states, adding that there was a period mass oil bunkering activities impacted negatively on what it ought to receive from the Federation Account, which, at a time, went far below N100 million. During that period, he said the state governor ensured sustained activities of the Commission by causing the release of funds to it from outside the derivation fund.

- The Guardian

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