FEDERAL lawmakers from the northern part of the country are planning to sponsor a bill at the National Assembly to scrap the 13 per cent oil derivation, a Niger Delta group has alleged.
The group, under the aegis of South-South Study Group (3SG), made this known in a statement by Otoks Dan-Princewill on Tuesday.
According to the statement, the plot was being hatched by 59 lawmakers from the northern part of the country.
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“The Bill seeks to remove the mere 13% the South-South zone gets from the oil obtained for the zone, and otherwise cause inter-communal clashes and restive disharmony,” he said.
“Rather than pursue how every zone can get over 13% to the 50% agreed at independence to stimulate productivity and derivation benefits in all states, these legislators are working to remove the meagre 13%.”
Dan-Princewill said that the proposed bill would make the South-South, the only relatively peaceful zone in Nigeria, rapidly regress to militancy and restiveness.
He noted that the bill would further damage national cohesion and add to the sustained violence and conflicts being experienced in southern parts of the country.
“Needless to say that Nigeria has problems enough, with the South-South grappling with sundry challenges including grievances over the recently enacted Petroleum Industry Act that already has its teeming population on edge.”
The group warned that the current National Assembly must not allow itself to be teleguided to make decisions that would undermine its independence and plunge the country into chaos.
It urged that true patriots and stakeholders to work for national cohesion, justice, equity and peace, and refrain from actions that would lead to provocation.
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