President Jonathan may not be involved in the alleged
attempt to award some disputed oil wells claimed by Rivers and Bayelsa states
to his home state, but he has a lot of influence on the amicable resolution of
the conflict. Vincent Obia writes
The governments of Rivers and Bayelsa states are locked in
an oil dispute in which President Goodluck Jonathan is mentioned as an
interested party. The government and people of Rivers State are alleging that
the President’s position weighed heavily with the federal agencies when they
decided unilaterally to release to his home state of Bayelsa proceeds of the
Soku oil fields and oil wells, which have been the subject of disagreement
between the two states.
The position of the Rivers State government is that the
oil-rich communities of Kula, Soku, Elem-Sangama, Idama and Abissa, which host
the Soku oil fields and oil wells that produce about 300, 000 barrels of crude
oil per day, one of the richest in the Niger Delta, were always part of the
state until a boundary breach in the 11th Administrative Map of the country.
The state says the infraction had been well acknowledged by the relevant
agencies, prompting the Supreme Court to decide in a 2009 suit brought by it
against Bayelsa that it could not rule on the matter until the boundary dispute
had been resolved.
Ruling on July 10 on the matter brought by Rivers State, the
Supreme Court had stated, “It is on account of the foregoing and because of the
technical nature of the dispute and the claims of the parties that the court
finds that the NBC as an authority with authorities and expertise, know-how in
dealing with this matter, should have, once and for all, conducted an
exhaustive exercise of delineating the disputed boundary, hence the long
awaited 12th edition of the Administrative Map when completed soonest would
have been of tremendous assistance in settling the lingering dispute. In the
light of the observations I have clearly expressed above, I do not feel
comfortable to grant the declarations sought until the NBC concludes its
exercise of delineation of disputed boundary to finality. It will be futile and
premature to determine the boundary of the two parties in the present
circumstance.”
The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission
acknowledges this position. The commission’s chairman, Mr. Elias Mbam,
reiterated at a press conference in Abuja Wednesday, “The Supreme Court in its
judgement of Tuesday, July 10, 2012, stated that until the National Boundary
Commission concludes the delineation of the disputed boundary to finality, it
will be futile and premature to determine the boundaries of the two party
states in the present circumstance.”
Pending the final resolution of the disputed boundary issue,
revenue accruing from the Soku oil wells had been kept in an escrow account.
But, curiously, and without recourse to Rivers State, about N17 billion from
the account was recently released to Bayelsa by the RMAFC.
Mbam has not denied the existence of the said escrow
account, and he has not denied the controversial payment to Bayelsa State. But
he says the commission does not determine boundaries or location of oil wells,
even though he acknowledges the position of the Supreme Court that there is a pending
dispute on the location of the five oil producing communities. He explains that
the commission relied on the December 2000 report of the Presidential Committee
on the Verification of Oil Wells to calculate revenue from the Soku oil wells
for Bayelsa.
Bayelsa State, on its part, recognises the Supreme Court
decision on its boundary with Rivers, but interprets it differently. It
believes Rivers lost the matter at the Supreme Court when the apex court struck
out its case against Bayelsa. The position of the apex court, to Bayelsa,
implies the maintenance of the status quo based on the controversial 11th
administrative map that gave it the oil communities.
No one knows if the status quo here includes the maintenance
of the escrow account for money accruing from the Soku oil wells.
The people of Kalabari kingdom, where the five oil
communities belong, have protested to the federal government against the
alleged attempt to cede them to Bayelsa – from Akukutoru local government of
Rivers State.
Knowing the passion for ego trip, meddlesomeness, and
politicking by Nigerian politicians, the popular imagination is that Jonathan
is a major influence on the attitude of the affected federal government
agencies to the issue, which have tended to favour Bayelsa State.
The Kalabari communities of Rivers State and the Nembe
communities of Bayelsa State on the boundary between both states have had a
long history of communal disagreements, dating back to when Bayelsa was still
in the old Rivers State. But the dispute over the oil communities is said to
have started in earnest when Jonathan was Bayelsa State deputy governor and
head of the state’s boundary committee. It is, thus, easy for people to claim
that what he could not achieve as deputy governor he is now trying to
accomplish with his position as president. The onus, therefore, is on the
President to show that this notion is not true. So far, he has not.
Neither has the aspersion-ridden statement last week by
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati,
helped to exonerate the President. Abati had urged those accusing the President
of underhand involvement in the dispute between the geopolitical cousins to
allow the relevant government agencies to do their job. But he evaded the central
question of the alleged payment of the N17 billion to Bayelsa from an escrow
account established to hold funds from the disputed oil wells pending the
resolution of the matter by the agencies.
Apparently, the key to resolution of the dispute lies in NBC’s
proper delineation of the states’ boundaries and completion of the 12th
Administrative Map – including rectification of the anomalies in the 11th map,
which it acknowledged since 2002. That it is taking NBC forever to accomplish
this is yet another illustration of the kind of laxity in the country’s public
institutions that often fuel conflict.
Of everyone involved in the present dispute, Jonathan seems
to be the one receiving the greatest attention. On the one hand, he is accused
of twisting the RMAFC and NBC around his little finger, and on the other, he is
defended by his aides and his ever-ready state government.
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