Oil-producing states have cornered the nation’s wealth –Abba Ibrahim

Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim

'Imagine a country where you have 36 states and you have 9 states privileged group in a so-called oil producing states that are getting more money than they can manage or need. We also have the other group of states which have only one source of revenue and that are the monthly allocation from the federal government.'

'That one is universal. It is for everybody. The oil- producing states have the federation take home, 13per cent derivation, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs with hundreds of billions for projects in the region, the NDDC with billions of naira, the oil companies, doing a lot and finally, the Federal Government gives very handsome grants to oil-producing states under all sorts of guises. You also have the Amnesty Programme, all in the same region. So, they have six different sources of income.'
'The other states are left with one source of income. I know how we indirectly got there. The oil producing communities have been neglected for a long time. There is no doubt about that. They were not taking very good care of them. In our own anxious way of solving the problems, we are now over funding them and underfunding the non-oil producing states.'

'This disparity can bring all sorts of crisis to the country in the future. We have to consciously do something about this development before it will put us in very bad and embarrassing situation. So, there is going to be a review. It will be done holistically.'