Oil-producing communities in Bayelsa State
on Wednesday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to fast-track the payment of the
statutory 13 percent derivation fund accruing to the Niger Delta to them
directly.
Coming under the umbrella of Concerned Citizens of Oil and Gas-Producing
Communities of Bayelsa State, the people said despite the huge funds available
for the purpose, many areas remain in poverty and desolation.
In a letter addressed to the president and made
available to journalists in Yenagoa, the representatives of the affected towns
lamented the level of deprivation they had suffered as citizens of Nigeria,
despite the wealth they contribute to the country.
The petition was signed by 15 representatives of
the oil-producing communities, including Dressman Arthur from Shidi-Ama,
Allison-Kulo Faith from Egwe-Ama, both in Brass Local Government Area, and
Bishop Okorotie from Ekeremor in Ekeremor Local Government Area.
The people noted that the communities were in need
of the fund to sustain their livelihood especially as they had mostly lost
their means of livelihood to oil exploration activities.
They, however, commended President Buhari for
showing concern for the people of the Niger Delta region, urging him to
consolidate it with the payment of the derivation fund directly to the
communities, noting that the involvement of the state governors and their
governments was unconstitutional.
“On behalf of ourselves, our respective oil and
gas-producing communities, local government areas and the entire host
communities producing oil and gas in Bayelsa State, we wish to write to demand
that henceforth, the payment of 13 percent derivation fund be made directly to
the oil and gas-producing communities in the state. The reason is not
far-fetched.
“In the 1999 Constitution, Section 162 (2) as
amended, 13 percent derivation fund is succinctly provided, and it is to ensure
that the oil producing communities who have lost their livelihood, everything
and suffered from the pollutions, oil spillages, devastation, degradation of
oil exploration activities should be adequately compensated.
“It is regrettable, therefore, that nothing and we
mean nothing practically has been done to ameliorate the lives of the poor and
downtrodden masses living in abject poverty in the midst of plenty, which have
made Nigeria rich.
"The communities and areas from which
Nigeria's black gold is extracted and developing other regions and cities have
cried for long.
“Now, therefore, it is imperative that the president
fulfills his mission to move the people to the next level. To this end, kindly
direct, as per the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the payment
of 13 percent derivation fund directly to the down-trodden masses, where oil
exploration and gas flaring take place, to take charge of the affairs of the
administration of their environments and improve their communities.
"We have been cheated and deceived for too long.
Let us have a sigh of relief that indeed you have come to make a difference and
salvage the suffering masses,” the group stated.
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