Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade yesterday decried what he
\ndescribed as injustice meted on the state by the Federal Government in
\nterms of revenue allocation over the years.<\/p>\n
Ayade lamented the unfair treatment when he received the Chairman of
\nRevenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Alhaji Aliyu
\nAhmed, who led members of the commission on a courtesy call on the
\ngovernor in Calabar.<\/p>\n
He said given deliberate decisions by the Federal Government and her
\nagencies over the years, the people of the state \u201cfeel like captives in a
\nplace they call their own.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ayade said the loss of 76 oil wells by the state was a direct consequence
\nof the ceding of Bakassi by the Federal Government and that rather than
\nfind a permanent solution to the fiscal challenges that arose from that
\naction, the Federal Government has inflicted incalculable pain on the
\npeople.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou took our land, took our oil wells, took us out of 13 per cent
\nderivation fund and reduced us to a weeping child in the Niger Delta
\nDevelopment Commission (NDDC). The pain is incalculable. We are a captured
\npeople by the Federal Government. We have no say because it does not
\nmatter. We practice ethnocracy and so it does not matter how the people of
\nBakassi and Cross River as a whole are in pains.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday we have NDDC, whose projects are based on percentage of oil
\nproduction. So, look at what we have lost from the perspective of NDDC
\nwhich keeps us as a crying child who is just in NDDC by geography not by
\nproduction as the sharing formula here is by quantum of oil production
\ncoupled with the fact that today also , we no longer benefit from the 13
\npercent derivation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf not for President Buhari I am sure that even the superhighway and
\nBakassi Deep Seaport (being developed by the state) would have been killed
\nby now. But how can a people feel like captives in a place they call their
\nown?\u201d<\/p>\n
According to him, \u201cFederal Government created a permanent injury and
\nsought a temporary solution. So, there is a permanent loss of oil well and
\ntemporary allocation of revenue, how does that work?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wondering what indices are used by the Federal Government in deciding
\nallocations for the state, he said\u201d If I have to link two villages in
\nCross River State the minimum kilometers you are going to do is 5 to
\n6kilometers because that state\u2019s landmass is 21,000 sqkm while you are
\ndealing with sister states in the Niger Delta with 3,000 sqkm. You need to
\nput six states together to give you our land mass.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not know how you calculated and factored the revenue that comes to
\nCross River without considering land mass. If land mass was a factor, land
\nmass alone will have given us more allocation that any other state in the
\nSouth South.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf oil was the issue, they you should also know that you have not given a
\ndime for frontier exploration of our gas and hydrocarbon deposits.\u201d<\/p>\n
He therefore, charged the commission to use the opportunity of their
\nvisit, which is a fact finding one, to write a report that will right the
\nwrongs done to the state over the years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade yesterday decried what he described as injustice meted on the state by the Federal Government in terms of revenue allocation over the years.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n