Daily Trust (Nigeria) [01/10/12]
Written by Yunus Abdulhamid, Ojoma Akor, Abuja & Victor Edozie, Port Harcourt
Until the Supreme Court rules otherwise, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) says it will continue to attribute Soku to Bayelsa State.
Soku is one of the rich oil communities hosting the Soku oil fields/oil well that produces about 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day in the Niger Delta.
Addressing newsmen yesterday in Abuja,
RMAFC Chairman Elias Mbam said it is the responsibility of the National
Boundary Commission (NBC) to determine the fate of five contentious oil
wells that have pitched Bayelsa State against Rivers State.
He said: “Although the Rivers State
government has since challenged this position in the Supreme Court, the
court in its judgment of Tuesday July 10th 2012 stated that until the
National Boundary Commission concludes its exercise o delineation of
disputed boundary to finality, it will be futile and premature to
determine the boundary to finality; it will be futile and premature to
determine the boundary of the two party states in the present
circumstances.“On the issue of allegation that revenue from Soku is
being attributed to Bayelsa State, the commission relied on the decision
of the Presidential Committee on the Verification of Oil Wells of
December 2000.”
Meanwhile, the NBC has denied that it
was conniving with President Goodluck Jonathan to cede oil wells in the
Kalabari Kingdom of Rivers State to Bayelsa State.
A statement by its Director-General M.B.
Ahmad said the commission was not under any directive, influence or
compulsion by anybody or authority to divide the Kalabari Kingdom
between Rivers and Bayelsa State or to excise the Kalabari lands and
oil wells to Bayelsa State or any other state of the federation.
Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has
asked the Bayelsa State government to steer clear of the oil wells of
Soku and Elem-Sangama communities in Rivers State as they have been in
existence before Bayelsa was created.
Declaring open a capacity building
programme for the Rivers State House of Assembly on Monday in Calabar,
Cross River State, Amaechi said both states had never had issues with
boundaries, adding that since the Bayelsa was created, there had been no
law or agreement ceding any part of Kalabari communities of Rivers
State to Bayelsa State.
“We will not allow the attempt by the
Bayelsa State government to collect our oil wells. I’ve read what the
Bayelsa State governor said. That the 11th edition of the
(administrative) map (of Nigeria) gave them the oil wells. When? They
didn’t talk about the 1st edition to the 10th edition, they chose to
avoid that, and went to the 11th edition, but the question they should
answer is why avoid the previous editions?” Amaechi asked.
Amaechi’s deputy Tele Ikuru also yesterday said that N17 billion belonging to the state was allocated to Bayelsa State by RMAFC.
Addressing protesters, he said the money was accruable from the disputed oil wells from Soku.
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