| Nigeria expects shortly to have a law paving the way to plough back oil money to the inhabitants of the oil-producing regions in a drive to end a long-running rebellion, a top official said on Tuesday. The federal government is offering the people of the oil-producing Niger Delta region 10 percent of oil and gas ventures in its push to stamp out militants’ attacks that have helped slash crude output and push global oil prices to record highs. “In the nearest, shortest possible time, the president will allow me to present this bill to the executive council (of ministers) for their approval,” President Umaru Yar’Adua’s special advisor on petroleum matters, Emmanuel Egbogah told AFP. After cabinet approval, the legislation will be sent to the country’s national assembly for ratification and incorporation into the proposed reformist petroleum law. Yar’Adua wants 10 percent of government equity in all the joint ventures with international oil companies to be transferred directly to the Delta communities. The government of the world’s eighth oil exporter, through its Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), holds the majority stake in ventures operated with multinational oil firms. “Government is the one that is bringing down its own portion from 60 percent and we will assign the 10 percent … directly to the host communities, not the state government, not to the local government, but directly to the people,” he said. Currently 13 percent of oil revenue goes to the oil-producing states. But critics say the funds, which go through state governments, have hardly filtered down to the ordinary people of the Niger Delta. “It is obvious the revenue going into the region has been mismanaged by its governors. They have no respect for their people and rule as emperors misappropriating government funds with impunity,” Henry Okah, a top militant and presumed leader of the armed Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) told AFP in a recent interview. Plans to transfer part of government equity is the latest of a raft of measures the Yar’Adua administration has tried to end the “oil rebellion”. It has offered an amnesty to militants and most militant leaders have accepted it and laid down their arms. It has now opened up to dialogue with the MEND, which had earlier spurned the amnesty offer and threatened to resume its “oil war”, targetting oil installations in the Delta. Rebels and activists have long demanded a greater share of the oil income that generates 80 percent of government revenue. The 10 percent offer would apply to all communities in oil-producing areas of the delta who would receive cash benefits, delivered through a trust-style mechanism which they could then pool for social projects. |
Oct282009