Uche Usim, Abuja

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta, Mr Ita Enang has canvassed for a new order that would take the monthly 13% oil derivation directly to the host communities and totally bypassing the State Governors.

Enang gave the suggestion at a Webinar Series on Post COVID-19 Petroleum Agenda for Nigerians, themed Resolving The Host Communities Questions.

According to him, there is an urgent need to change the current situation of routing the 13% derivation through the governors, since it has abysmally failed to really address the plight of the oil producing communities in the Niger Delta region.

He charged the oil producing communities to unite strongly to fight for their land as the current degradation and other challenges may not be addressed if oil ceases to be the economic pillar of Nigeria.

He cited the case of Enugu and other states in the South East that provided coal that was used in powering the locomotive trains but were abandoned to suffer ecological crisis as soon energy demand shifted from coal to crude oil.

He said: “Take 13% directly to host the communities. Power should move from the center to grassroots. There should be meaningful participation of host communities.

“The host community should rise up and fight for themselves. No one will fight for them. Let the 13% derivation not go to the Governors of the States. When the PIB comes, look at all the aspects and raise concerns where your plights are not addressed.

“We are already talking about alternative energy. When oil becomes less important, it will be abandoned by Nigeria.

Related News

Enugu has been abandoned by major people. It was from there Nigeria took coal to power locomotives. It is now  a national problem with regards to addressing ecological issues”, he said.

Enang also spoke on the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, urging it to get back on track by harvesting inputs from small indigenous companies, instead of being addicted to big contracts only.

Also speaking at the virtual meeting, a stakeholder in the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Dr. Ferdinand Ikwang said there is an urgent need to have a stricter monitoring and evaluation mechanism in place because funds meant for the oil region, streaming in from various government agencies, have not been properly applied for development of the Niger Delta region.

He urged those campaigning for the scrapping of agencies like the Niger Delta Development Commission, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and others to have a rethink because such an unpopular approach naturally has heavy security implications.

“Better monitoring and evaluation is key. Who does PAP report to? Who supervises what the NDDC does on ground? If, for instance, the total money for the region is N20 billion monthly, look at what’s on ground.

“If properly spent, it’ll go a long way. I Put a monitoring and evaluation programme when I designed PAP.

“Our problem is delivery, not laws. For me, I want to see things done on ground. We need a team to ensure compliance. We can have laws but if not implemented, we won’t know where to amend. We need a Presidential task force on monitoring and evaluation. There should be sanctions for failure to do things right.

“We also need a peace and reconciliatory committee. You need to clear the issues they have before you bring something new”, he explained.