By Tessy Ogbemi
For more than three decades, oil and gas producing communities of the Niger Delta have waited often in vain for justice promised by the Nigerian Constitution.
The 13% Derivation Fund, conceived as compensation for environmental degradation and economic dislocation, has remained largely out of the reach of the very communities whose sacrifices sustain the nation’s economy.
The Niger Delta Civil Society Forum (NDCSF), led by Comrade Ezekiel Kagbala, has again placed this unresolved injustice before President and Commander-in-Chief, Bola Tinubu, urging decisive executive order for a derivation board to correct what it describes as a long-standing constitutional and moral failures.
The 13% Derivation Fund belongs to oil and gas producing communities, not state governors. The historical record is clear. The struggle for derivation intensified during the military era long before the advent of elected governors. Communities bore the brunt of repression, pollution, and economic neglect, while political office holders played no part in that sacrifice.
NDCSF Forum therefore calls on President Bola Tinubu to exercise the Power of Prerogative within his constitutional jurisdiction over matters on the Exclusive Legislative List, and in strict compliance with legislative provisions, to issue an Executive Order for the creation of a 13% Derivation Fund Board in each oil and gas producing state, alongside a Presidential Monitoring Committee to guarantee transparency, accountability, and direct community benefit.
13% Derivation Belongs to the Communities Not the Governors
Comments
Post a Comment