A
abujagirl
Guest
#JunaidMohammed, second Republic lawmaker and a delegate at the #NationalConference, during an interview with #Vanguard spoke on why the North wants derivation reduced to five percent. He also said that the #NigerDelta region of the country can never last 24 hours as a nation.
He said, "Part of the confusion arising from the derivation is the way it has been applied or misapplied to the detriment of all the 36 states of the federation and this has to do directly with the way former Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar introduced the term ‘derivation’ and it to be loosely applied as to include other funds which are significant and which are not covered by oil".
On whether or not the Niger delta states deserve the revenue they are getting now, Mohammed said, "The situation we have found ourselves today is such that the people of the Niger-Delta have been pampered and they are now saying they are entitled to 13 percent of all revenues accruing to the Federal Government and not just oil alone and they are now asking to be given more.
"What we are saying is that, without prejudice to whatever quantum you are signing to them out of onshore production, we must re-introduce that dichotomy so we know what is onshore and which can now be argued they are entitled to something. We also said we must disambiguate our own income because you cannot lump oil money with import and export duties and value added tax. If these issues are not resolved, what it means is that the oil producing states now take 13 percent of all revenue going into the federation account".
He blamed insurgency in the north on the present sharring formula, saying, "Nobody needs to be told that this lopsidedness in the formula led to insurgency in the North. I have no respect for Boko Haram and I find their understanding of Islam bizarre. So in a way, those who are clamouring for resource ownership, derivation, if they own the oil, why are they talking about derivation? They should own it 100 percent. So you can see their ignorance or agitation carried too far.
"You can never own or control what you never had, if you agree to drive something, it must be something you own 100 percent and you decide to drive it any extent to satisfy yourself but I don’t see any sense in the agitation other than the fact that they now have one of their own as the President of this country".
"If they don’t want to have Nigeria, fine, but let me tell you that the day you make the Niger-Delta a country, it will not last 24 hours because they have nothing in common aside this agitation, nothing in their culture is common, in terms of language and religious beliefs.
"I can tell you that very soon, Nigerians will no longer accept this situation whereby the par capita income of the Niger-Delta zone is higher than that of some countries that are developed and on top of all that, the Federal Government is still responsible for the Amnesty programme which gulps about 450 billion yearly", Mohammed said.
He said, "Part of the confusion arising from the derivation is the way it has been applied or misapplied to the detriment of all the 36 states of the federation and this has to do directly with the way former Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar introduced the term ‘derivation’ and it to be loosely applied as to include other funds which are significant and which are not covered by oil".
On whether or not the Niger delta states deserve the revenue they are getting now, Mohammed said, "The situation we have found ourselves today is such that the people of the Niger-Delta have been pampered and they are now saying they are entitled to 13 percent of all revenues accruing to the Federal Government and not just oil alone and they are now asking to be given more.
"What we are saying is that, without prejudice to whatever quantum you are signing to them out of onshore production, we must re-introduce that dichotomy so we know what is onshore and which can now be argued they are entitled to something. We also said we must disambiguate our own income because you cannot lump oil money with import and export duties and value added tax. If these issues are not resolved, what it means is that the oil producing states now take 13 percent of all revenue going into the federation account".
He blamed insurgency in the north on the present sharring formula, saying, "Nobody needs to be told that this lopsidedness in the formula led to insurgency in the North. I have no respect for Boko Haram and I find their understanding of Islam bizarre. So in a way, those who are clamouring for resource ownership, derivation, if they own the oil, why are they talking about derivation? They should own it 100 percent. So you can see their ignorance or agitation carried too far.
"You can never own or control what you never had, if you agree to drive something, it must be something you own 100 percent and you decide to drive it any extent to satisfy yourself but I don’t see any sense in the agitation other than the fact that they now have one of their own as the President of this country".
"If they don’t want to have Nigeria, fine, but let me tell you that the day you make the Niger-Delta a country, it will not last 24 hours because they have nothing in common aside this agitation, nothing in their culture is common, in terms of language and religious beliefs.
"I can tell you that very soon, Nigerians will no longer accept this situation whereby the par capita income of the Niger-Delta zone is higher than that of some countries that are developed and on top of all that, the Federal Government is still responsible for the Amnesty programme which gulps about 450 billion yearly", Mohammed said.
