The 47-page document marked “Key issues before the Northern delegates to the 2014 National Conference” also has a sub-title: “Northern Nigeria the back bone and strength of Nigeria”.
It was articulated by a think tank constituted by Northern Governors, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation.
The position paper, which was described as “highly provocative” by some Southern delegates, detailed the position and demands of the North from the Conference.
It specifically asked northern delegates to reject all claims to oil resources by oil producing areas which the document claimed led to the cancellation of the onshore/offshore oil dichotomy.
It said that abrogation of onshore/offshore oil dichotomy gave away a national resource to littoral states, “seriously eroding revenue available for distribution to all parts of the country”.
“The North demands a reversal to status quo ante. All mineral resources should remain under the exclusive rights of the Federal Government as provided for by the International law (1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea UNCLOS, Article 76 on territorial waters/boundaries which stipulated that 200 nautical miles off the continental shelves belongs to the central government exclusively,” it said.
It said that the Federal Government since 1999 had taken steps which negated the principles of justice and equity to the federating units, clearly threatening the balance development of the country for the common good of all.
“For example, the revenue received by the six states of the Southsouth from the Federal allocation from 1999 to date amounted to N17. 74 trillion (each of the six states received on average N2.96 trillion), while the 19 states of the North received only N10.53 trillion (an average of only N554 billion per state).
“On the other hand, the 11 states of the Southwest and Southeast combined, received N8.79 trillion (an average of N799 billion per state), it said.
The document said that derivation, which is now at 13 per cent, should be reduced to at best five per cent and must be limited only to oil on the onshore.
“The North demands a new revenue sharing formula, which seeks to empower the strata of government closer to the people than the centre, that is, the states, and the local governments to be able to deliver on their governance responsibilities to the people.
“The formula is also to ensure a strong enough Federal Government for the security of the country and give the country the stability of direction and focus on human and economic development.
“Here, we recommend a vertical revenue sharing formula as follows: Federal Government 26 %; states 39%, Local Governments Areas 35%.
“Also we recommend a horizontal revenue sharing formula for the states and local governments areas as follows: equality 35%; population 30%; population density 2%; land mass 20%; terrain 5%; internal revenue generation effort 5%; and social development factor 3%.
“The North rejects the frequent assertions by the South on the population figures of the North and states clearly that the rate of population growth attributed to the North over the years is extremely understated.
“The North recommends that all institutions and programmes established for the benefit of a few states be abolished. These include the Niger Delta Development Commission, the Ministry of Niger Delta and the Amnesty programme for the Niger Delta militants and component C of the SURE-P, the HYPADEC,” it said.
The document said that the fervent increase in agitation for total resource control that overemphasised revenue from oil minerals producing states (the Niger Delta) is a complete over hyping of the contribution of oil to keeping the country together.
“This is needless to say that the agitation is a complete negation of the tenets of a brothers’ keeper of a federal system of government which Nigeria had decided to practise long time ago.”
The document said that the Constitution gave the ownership of all minerals resources found in any part of the country to the Federal Government.
According to the document, the history of revenue sharing among the regions and the centre was 50:50, but limited to revenue derived from activities that involved human effort.
“All mineral resources belonged to the centre; this new adventure on resource control is totally new concept and alien to the practice in Nigeria,” it said.
The document said that the funding of the civil war was entirely done by the North at a great sacrifice to its wellbeing, at the expense of investment in human and economic development of the entire region.
The North, it said, sold forward all its groundnut and cotton for some years, risking forward delivery contract of three years for all its agricultural products to prosecute the civil war.
It said that the National Conference “tended to be gimmick” used by past and present presidents to push through certain agenda that they fear cannot possibly pass through the National Assembly.
“The unmistakable conclusion to be drawn from the history of these exercises is that the 2014 National Conference, like its 2005 predecessor, is intended to permit Mr. President to take certain actions and decisions which are not allowed without changing the Constitution and which the National Assembly may not otherwise endorse,” the document stated, adding:
“Of course, the president won’t tell anyone in advance what the hidden agenda are with respect to the Conference. On this score, the tell-tale signs of his secret ambitions are unmistakable.”
It said that President Goodluck Jonathan’s supporters have missed no opportunity to remind everyone that he is the first democratically elected president of Nigeria who is both from an ethnic minority and the oil rich Niger Delta.
“Both facts are pregnant with significance for what he might want to do, particularly in the light of the endless agitation by people from that part of the country to confiscate all revenue accruing from oil exploitation for themselves alone,” it said.
Source: The Nation
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