Date Published: 07/24/09

Niger Delta: Governors threaten Yar'Adua on Amnesty

GOVERNORS of Nigeria's South-South geo-political zone, the hub of oil and gas production activities and hotbed of insurgency by unemployed youths, have threatened to poll out of the President Umaru Yar'Adua's amnesty initiative if Abuja fails to meet certain preconditions with them.

The six states that make up the geo-political zone are Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers. The aggrieved governors rose from a meeting on Thursday night in Asaba, the Delta State capital, threatening to withdraw from the current Amnesty iniative to armed insurgents by the Federal Government unless vital issues affecting the volatile oil and gas region are brought to a round table discussion.

This was however, contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the South-South Governors Forum in Asaba, Delta State .

In the communiqué, the forum noted that the Federal Government has failed to put up any definite post-Amnesty plan and stressed that it is absolutely necessary for the injustice done to the region to be addressed.

According to the communiqué, “the South-South Governors, after due consideration of the reforms in the petroleum sector, especially on its Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) before the National Assembly, pointed out the absence of any special allocation of resources, royalties or proceeds from oil exploration for the benefit of oil producing communities and states, was not proper.

It also observed with dismay, the relocation of the University of Petroleum Technology Efurrun , Delta State to Kaduna , in the northern part of the country and called for the immediate reversal of the decision while expressing disgust at the anti-oil producing posture of the Honourable Minister of Petroleum, Alhaji Rilwanu Lukman.

The communiqué which was read by the chairman of the South-South Governor’s forum Senator Liyel Imoke, said that the forum agreed to establish what it called “a Sovereign Wealth Fund” in which the South-South states collectively invest portions of their revenue from the excess crude account to be managed by an international financial institution”.

The fund, according to the communiqué, is expected to attract additional investment from across the world and would be invested primarily in projects in the region for the development of viable business and economic ventures in partnership with the organized private sector.

The South-South Governors agreed to a renewed commitment towards the take-off of the agreed railway line linking Calabar and passing all the states of the region to Lagos with a view to easing communication among the states.

Governor Chibuike Amaechi who led the Rivers State delegation to the meeting has since returned to Port Harcourt