Abuja - The Chairman, Senate Committee on Housing, Sen. Bukar
Abba-Ibrahim (ANPP-Yobe) said on Monday in Abuja that the North was
opposed to the Petroleum Industry Bill because of its lopsidedness.
Abba-Ibrahim, who stated this at an interactive session with
journalists, said that the clause in the PIB, which was asking for
additional 10 per cent revenue for oil producing communities was
unacceptable.
“Derivation is only one out of seven sources of revenue for the oil
producing states. They have the Federal Government’s take home, the NDDC
with over N500 billion being projects only in oil producing
communities.
“They also have the Niger Delta Ministry with over N400 billion
Federal Government grants in the name of amnesty and oil companies doing
social corporate responsibility.’’ According to him, adding another 10
per cent to the already existing revenue generators for the zone was
unfair.
“Adding another 10 per cent to all these seven sources, I don’t know
how you are going to have peace where resources allocations are so
skewed to one side and unfair.’’
He said this addition in the PIB was unacceptable and suggested that
the money should go into the treasury so that every Nigerian could
benefits from it.
“Nobody planted or farmed oil, it is God, who put it there and it
will not last forever. “It will get to a point where the oil will finish
and another natural resource will come up and every Nigerian will
benefit from it.’’
The lawmaker added that the North was also opposed to the PIB because
of its failure to make provision for the exploitation of other minerals
all over the country.
“We have over 800 million tonnes of limestone in Gulane, Fune and
Guljimba local governments of Yobe, but as a state government, you
cannot go and exploit, it has to be Federal Government.’’
He is, however, optimistic that the bill when passed, would sanitise
the Petroleum Industry and address the issue of corruption in the
sector.
Speaking on the current security challenge in the country,
Abba-Ibrahim said that although dialogue might not be the only solution,
it remained the best solution.
“To me, dialogue is not the only solution, but it remains the best
solution. I am not saying it is the only solution because there are many
ways to solve it but I believe that dialogue remains the best.”
He said that himself and four others were named as observers in the
negotiations between the Boko Haram sect members and the Federal
Government, but that the sect members still remained faceless.
Abba-Ibrahim, who was a former governor of Yobe, decried the
marginalisation of the North East zone, which he said, was one of the
largest geo-political zones in the country.
He said the marginalisation had led to the backwardness of the zone,
which was currently battling seriously with the issue of desertification
and poverty.
While acknowledging that no particular leader could be blamed for the
backwardness of the zone, he appealed to Nigerians to help proffer
solutions to the problems of the region.
“The South East had their problems and it was resolved, the
South-South also had their marginalisation problems resolved, so we hope
that Nigerians would also help find solutions for the North East zone.
Speaking on education, he urged the president to summon the political
will and courage to declare free and compulsory education up to
secondary school level nationwide in 2013. (NAN)