PIB: North-East Govs demand 30% profit share for exploration

…as Northern elders knock southern governors

By Our correspondents

The Northeast Governors Forum have on Tuesday demanded inclusion in 30 percent share for oil exploration contained in the recently passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by the National Assembly.

The reaction of the Northeast governors is coming on the heels of Monday’s Southern Governors Forum held in Lagos.

They had commended the National Assembly for the progress made in the passage of the PIB,  rejected “the proposed three percent and granted support for the five percent share of the oil revenue to the host community as recommended by the House of Representatives.”

The Forum also rejected the proposed 30 per cent share of profit for the exploration of oil and gas in the basins and the ownership structure of the proposed Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC).

However, the meeting of the Northeast Governors Forum was the 5th edition of the North East Governors’ Forum in Taraba State.

The Governor of Borno State who doubles as chairman of the forum, Professor Babagana Zulum in his remarks called on the need for more infrastructural development in the northeast, including electricity supply and improved initiatives on agricultural development.

The governors tasked the Military to sustain its momentum in the fight against insurgency in the region by taking advantage of the current division among the insurgents.

“May I at this point commend the laudable efforts of our soldiers, for the recent successes recorded in the fight against the insurgents, I urge the security agents to sustain the momentum for a total defeat of the insurgency,” the statement said.

He also called for the involvement of affected communities in the fight against insecurity, noting that this will facilitate better understanding, local intelligence for the success of security operations.

They also noted that the Military should capitalize  on the conflict and  division within the ranks of the insurgents to intensify the war against them with the view of ensuring their defeat.

To address insufficient power supply in the region, the Governors made case for  actualizing the Mambilla Hydro Power project, maintenance of electricity transmission lines that cut across the region.

The governors further restated that the Forum is committed towards improving education quality  through the establishment of Northeast Council on Education.

The governors later went into a closed-door session for further discussion with a communiqué expected to be issued afterward.

In another development, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has knocked the position of the Southern governors over the insistence that 2023 presidency should be zoned to the southern part of Nigeria.

According to the Elders Forum, the North would not be goaded into yielding a democratically elected office.

The position was made by the Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Northern Elders Forum, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed.

He observed that as far as the North was concerned, the idea that it would be indirectly threatened or intimidated or blackmailed into yielding an office which ought to be settled democratically will not be acceptable.

The forum insisted that the decision of the southern governors as an expression of sentiment that could be best discussed within a political process.

He said, “We are running a democratic government and decisions over where the next president comes from are basically decisions that will be made by voters exercising their rights to choose which candidate best serves their interest.”

Baba-Ahmed explained that the southern governors come from the two dominant parties: APC and PDP, saying that they must have some influence in those parties.

He noted that the way it should be done was that the southern governors should influence their parties to zone the presidency to southern states and then work to convince Nigerian voters from all parts of the country to vote for that candidate.

He posited that the democratic rights of Nigerian citizens to vote for a candidate cannot be snatched by threats or intimidation, stressing that politicians are becoming very lazy to think they will be given leadership in a manner that suggests an ultimatum.