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| Governor Rotimi Amaechi |
There seems to be no end in sight yet in respect of
the raging dispute between Rivers and Bayelsa states over some oil wells as the
meeting called by President Goodluck Jonathan to find a peaceful resolution to
the dispute could not hold on Friday as scheduled.
Though, no reason was given by the State House for
the cancellation, it was learnt that the meeting was called off due to the
absence of Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi who was said to have travelled
out of the country.
While the Bayelsa delegation led by Governor
Seriake Dickson, was said to have arrived in Abuja for the meeting, the
delegation from Rivers State was not in the capital city.
Governor Amaechi's spokesman, Mr. David Iyofor,
said "the governor travelled outside the country earlier in the week on
official assignment and I am aware that he delegated the deputy governor to
represent him."
Iyofor said Rivers delegation did not come to Abuja
at all because the state's liaison officer received a letter dated November 8,
2012 from the Chief of Staff to the President Mike Oghiadomhe, stating that the
meeting had been shifted and a new date would be announced.
It could, however, not be confirmed if similar
letter was sent to Bayelsa as it was gathered that Dickson was at the Villa
Friday evening.
It was feared the meeting was called off because
Presidency felt slighted that Governor Amaechi had delegated his deputy to
attend the meeting.
Special Adviser to the President on Public Affairs
Doyin Okupe said he was not in Abuja and could not speak on the issue.
He, however, promised to give THISDAY details when
he returns to Abuja today.
The dispute between the two states, which have had
a running legal battle over the location of the oil-rich communities, became
public when some Kalabari monarchs in Rivers State staged a protest in Abuja
alleging that Soku oil well had been ceded to Bayelsa, the President's home
state.The oil-bearing communities of Elem Sangana and Soku - the areas in
dispute - are said to collectively produce about 300,000 barrels of crude oil
daily.
Rivers also alleged that N17 billion of revenue
accruing to it was erroneously paid to Bayelsa, but Bayelsa insisted that the
said amount was the outcome of reconciliation of figures in respect of funds
due to the state that had been wrongly credited to Rivers.
In the heat of claims and counter-claims by the two
states, Amaechi had said: “Other federal agencies are not helping matters at
all. From all indications, all federal agencies we have approached over this
issue have all kept deaf ears. The whole world knows that Soku has been part of
Rivers State from time immemorial.”
Shortly after the protest by the Kalabari monarchs
and the media war that ensued between the two states, Jonathan met with leaders
of Rivers State led by Amaechi at the State House.
His Deputy, Mr. Tele Ikuru, who is also the
chairman of the Rivers State Boundary Commission, was at that meeting held in
the first week of November.
That meeting, which one of the Kalabari monarchs,
Chief Disrel Gbobo Bob-Manuel II, the Amanyanabo of Abonnema, said "was
fruitful, cordial, and like a family discussing," was to be a prelude to
an enlarged meeting involving key stakeholders in the two states, which did not
hold on Friday.
Apart from the presidency that was initiating peace
moves, the National Boundary Commission (NBC) had also waded into the media
war, saying it was working to resolve, once and for all, the lingering boundary
disputes between the two states.
Its Director-General Dr. MB Ahmad said it had
scheduled some lines of activities to be jointly undertaken with officials of
the two states in order to resolve the dispute once and for all, which it said
had been on since the creation of Bayelsa out of Rivers in 1996.
It even recalled that the commission had at
different times intervened to resolve the dispute, but regretted that such
interventions had encountered various challenges culminating in the Supreme
Court judgment of July 10, 2012, wherein the court directed the commission to
conclude the exercise of delineation of the disputed boundary.
Meanwhile, it emerged at the weekend that this is
not first time a state would be refunded monies erroneously credited to other
oil producing states as has been done to Bayelsa in respect of the Soku oil
wells.
A letter from the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation
and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), which THISDAY obtained last night, showed that
in January this year, all the oil producing states were ordered to refund N17,
566,394,965.18 to Rivers being accrued 13 per cent derivation fund from April
2009 to January 2011. The letter signed by the Chairman of the Revenue
Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and dated January 17,
2012 with reference number RMC/O&G/34/Vol. II/263 was addressed to the
Accountant-General of the Federation.
The order was in response to a letter from Rivers
State dated October 3, 2011 for the payment of all the 13 per cent derivation
revenue due to the state from Nda and Okori oil fields.
Seven states were affected by the order with Akwa
Ibom, Delta and Bayelsa states refunding the highest sums of N9,567,732,283.95;
4,142,271,632.95; and 2,071,164,678.46 respectively.
Also yesterday, a group, Rivers Truth Movement, in
a release cited Governor Dickson's claim that Rivers State Government wrongly
collected about N120 billion as derivation fund accruing from the Soku Oil
fields over several years. The release signed by its President, Charles Douglas
Jack, and Secretary, Comrade Steven Amachere, said: "From all accounts, the said money was
wrongly credited to Rivers State and the collection of the money spans several
years.
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