…Decry permanent 13% derivation allocation for decades

The Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, on Tuesday, rose from its stakeholders meeting throwing a challenge at the Presidential Candidates of the various political parties to demonstrate clear commitment to environmental justice of communities within the Niger Delta region.

The meeting of the Board of Trustees (BOT) and the National Executive Committee (NEC) which was held virtually in Abuja, tasked the different presidential candidates to present practical, measurable, and time-bound plans for the cleanup, restoration, and sustainable development of affected communities.

In the meeting were Victor Attah, the BOT chairman; Godknows Igali, the National Chairman of NEC; former governors, former ministers, first class traditional rulers, political leaders, opinion leaders, and other stakeholders in the region.

The communiqué observed that after more than six decades of oil and gas exploration and production, communities throughout the Niger Delta have continued to bear the consequences of environmental degradation, pollution and damage to their ecosystems and livelihoods.

While calling for urgent attention to the ongoing environmental situation in Nembe Creek in Bayelsa, Odidi in Delta, and Kula in Rivers, PANDEF assured of its continuous advocacy and engagement with the federal government on environmental protection and remediation.

The body called for adequate, sustained, and transparent funding of the Ogoni cleanup programme, and urged the federal government to develop a comprehensive framework for replicating the remediation process across the Niger Delta.

The communique commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s decision to modernise and upgrade the ports at Warri, Port Harcourt, and Calabar, and also welcomed the approvals for the proposed deep sea port projects in the region.

These deep sea projects including the Ibom Deep Sea Port in Akwa Ibom, the Bonny Deep Sea port in Rivers and the Agge Deep Sea port in Bayelsa, noting that the strategic location of these regional ports could strengthen trade links with East, Central and Southern Africa and facilitate access to the Indian Ocean.

It therefore, urged the federal government to establish a sustainable financing framework for the South-South port projects, comparable to the financing arrangements adopted for major port infrastructural centres around the Lagos corridor.

PANDEF noted the federal government’s decision to retain the original broad alignment of the 750 kilometres Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway as a distinct legacy strategic infrastructure project, coming after the reported reconsideration of an earlier proposal to integrate the route into the East-West Road.

Considering the expected development of states within the Coastal areas, the communiqué has set up a high level technical committee to assist the Federal Ministry of Works on the road project, which had been on the drawing board, predating Nigeria’s independence.

PANDEF has therefore, declared that the accelerated and successful completion of the highway was non-negotiable, arguing that the Coastal Highway would boost connectivity across the coastal states, stimulate trade and investment, while strengthening national integration and unlock economic opportunities.

It talked about the rail connection of the region with the rest of the country, and appealed to the federal government to take necessary steps to establish appropriate North-South rail connection to link the region for the benefit of the Nigerian people.

PANDEF explained that, while section 162(2) of Nigeria’s 1999 constitution (as amended) provided for the allocation of not less than 13% of the revenue accruing directly from natural resources to the relevant states from where such resources are derived, such provisions have remained unchanged for over two decades.

Considering the enormous environmental degradation, ecological challenges and developmental burdens borne by oil producing communities across the Niger Delta, the umbrella socio-political organisation of the South-South region called for an increase in the derivation allocation from the current 13% to a minimum of 50%.

Such an increase, the body argued would enable oil producing communities address the long standing developmental deficits, environmental damage, health hazards and social and economic consequences of oil and gas exploration and production.

Besides, PANDEF called on the federal government, the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, and the National Assembly to urgently address the longstanding and contentious issue of the onshore/offshore dichotomy in revenue allocation.