Ijaw leaders,
including former President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Seriake Dickson of
Bayelsa State have advised President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives
Congress (APC) to sincerely implement the recommendations of the
party’s panel
led by Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State.
They gave
the advice yesterday when Dickson led a delegation of some Ijaw leaders to the
home of the former president to deliberate on the APC report on
restructuring.The Ijaw leaders said a holistic and sincere implementation of
the recommendations on restructuring would encourage inter-ethnic harmony and
development in the country.
A statement
by the Special Adviser to Governor Dickson on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis
Soriwei, quoted Jonathan as saying the issues which fell under the purview of
the committee were exhaustively treated during the 2014 National Conference
whose implementation would definitely move the nation forward.
Meanwhile, a
group, Akwa Ibom Leaders Vanguard, has alleged that the APC, through the report,
is trying to indirectly reintroduce onshore/offshore dichotomy in the oil
sector.
According to
the group, the committee which recommended resource control, among others, is
reintroducing the dichotomy by stating specifically that oil mineral found
onshore should belong to the Federal Government while those found offshore
should be owned by the states.
Akwa Ibom is
a major beneficiary of the abrogated dichotomy as most of the oil resource
which have earned the state much revenue, based on derivation principle, are
found offshore.Spokesman of the group, Senator Anietie Okon, warned yesterday
in Uyo that any attempt to reintroduce resource control based on
offshore/onshore dichotomy would create more crises in the Niger Delta.
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