Anything wrong with this JUDGE FOR ONESELF His take on the derivation controversy - DSP Alamieyeseigha (Fetching and reading from a script) This is my intervention on derivation at the conference. It says the Economic foundation of federalism in a multinational country like Nigeria is the enjoyment of autonomy by the federating units, that is the states, as was the practice between 1964 to 1969 in Nigeria. This practice was truncated by the military regimes for the expediency of resource needs to prosecute the Nigerian civil war and was not reversed at the end of the civil war in 1970. Instead, it was promoted to the point where the federal government was vested with total powers to expropriate and control the natural resources of the federating units. In consequence therefore, the federal government neglected to develop and exploit the various natural resources t in all the 36 states and the federal capital territory of Nigeria. Solid minerals ranging from gold, coal, marble, bitumen, etc, are found in commercial quantities in all the geopolitical zones. This means every state has the capacity to survive on its natural resources apart from depending on the non renewable crude oil and gas. The general misconception is that people think resource control is applicable to only oil and gas found in the Niger Delta. Thus, whenever the issue of resource ownership and control is raised in Nigeria, the generality of the people are uncomfortable and often oppose it as if the survival of this country depends on oil and gas. Countries like Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, etc do not have minerals or solid minerals but have very robust economy. Those demanding for ownership and control of their natural resources are not greedy. These are necessary measures for the development and exploitation of the abandoned critical natural and human resources. The development will not only increase the over all wealth of Nigeria but also make for a sensible long range and carefully programmed exploitation of our oil reserves to preserve, protect and safeguard the environment from further degradation. The entire country will benefit from it through job creation, contracts, trades, industry and social service. This is what this type of fiscal federalism has done for the United states of America whose constitution we have adopted but ignored to operate it properly through a suffocating military imposed unitary constitution of 1999. I wish to remind the honorable conference that whereas the United States of America has oil and gas far more than Nigeria, its economy depends on agriculture, manufacturing, industry and technology. It is for this reason that every delegate should support the need for states to own and control their resources and pay a negotiated tax to the federal government in the spirit of fiscal federalism. I recommend a system in which the federating states will have 100 % ownership and control of their natural and other strategic resources. This principle is based on the firm belief that all states and sections of this country are abundantly endowed in mineral and non-mineral resources that should be owned and exploited by the states and communities where they are found. Two: an interim bridging arrangement be considered whereby each federating state should start with 50 % of derivation and gradually move up in a phase and coordinated manner until the 100% bench mark is attained. The transition period should be between 5 and 10 years. Three: During the transition years, a trust fund of 4.5 % as agreed by conference be established to develop other minerals, agriculture, industry and other commercial enterprises that will enable all states and regions of the country to become economically strong and competitive. The 4.5 percent devoted to the trust fund shall be negotiated with the revenue distributing states in the sprit of equity, unity, fraternity and national cooperation. This is my intervention. The committee has recommended status quo on derivation and we know why. That committee was badly constituted. Only 6 members were from the south. The rest came from the north. In which country of the world is this kind of fiscal federalism, which is like 100 percent resource ownership actively practiced now? - See more at: vanguardngr/2014/07/imprisonment-obasanjo-ribadu-framed-dsp-alamieyeseigha/#sthash.DTGbXBx3.dpuf
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 13:53:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015