Seriake Dickson, governor of
Bayelsa, says the most powerful entity in the country is the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and not the federal government.
Speaking when he featured in an
interview with Osasu Igbinedion on The Osasu Show, Dickson said Bayelsa and
other oil-producing states get less than the supposed 13 percent oil derivation
owing to the supposed might of the NNPC.
The governor said the states do
not get the said 13 percent but paltry sums less than six percent, because NNPC
takes what it wants and leaves the rest for the federal government.
According to him, the NNPC is the
strongest body in Nigeria, even stronger than the federal government.
“It is a fallacy. In the 13
percent so-called derivation by the constitution, imposed constitution, first
of all, what oil-producing states get including Bayelsa is very far from 13%,”
Dickson said.
“The most powerful entity in
Nigeria is not the federal government. Federal government may deceive itself
that it is the most powerful, but of recent, there has been a gradual
realisation of that fallacy. The most powerful entity in Nigeria is the NNPC.
“The NNPC takes whatever it wants
to take and gives whatever in-house accounts and then brings out whatever
paltry sum every month to the table as constituting 13 per cent.
“It is from there they will take
away subsidy. Yet Bayelsa and the oil-producing states bear most of the subsidy
burden and what the Nigerian public is deceived about 13% is actually less than
about 5 percent or 6 percent of what should really be coming to us.”
Asked his stance on the call to
restructure Nigeria, Dickson said the discourse should be how, not if the
country should be restricted.
He said he does not like
commenting on the discourse because some people feel it does not make sense.
“These days, I don’t like talking
about restructuring because there is a feeling by some people that the entire
notion of restructuring doesn’t make sense,” he said.
“If we are serious about a
stable, prosperous Nigeria, then I thought that everybody should be talking of
not whether we should restructure but how do we but the argument from some
people in the federal government is as if there is nothing to restructure in
Nigeria.”
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