Doctor Farah Dagogo Insists On Niger Delta Controling Its Oil

The Member Representing Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Doctor Farah Dagogo has advocated that the oil producing communities in the Niger Delta should be allowed to control their resources, just like the communities in the North control their gold. He opined that the communities should be allowed to either refine independently, or take their oil to any choice refinery and sell at the international rate; and pay tax to the federal government as entailed in a true federal system.


The Honour Member further noted that certain northern communities in Zamfara, Adamawa, Bornu and other such states that have huge deposits of gold, are allowed to explore their resources to the benefit of the communities and their people; while the case of the Niger Delta seems different, as the federal government does the exploration in partnership with some giant multinational oil companies. Despite the massive level of environmental devastation and ecological damage experienced by the people, the federal government only gives 13% derivation to the state and local governments in the Niger Delta.


Hon. Farah Dagogo criticised the federal government on the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMDI) and other federal policies relating to natural resources. He explained that the North has enjoyed community exploration of certain natural resources, such as above 27 billion barrels of bitumen, 2.23 tonnes of limestone, 14 million tonnes of barites, above 1 million tonnes of zinc-lead, etc. The Northern community people constantly explore for these natural resources including raw gold; they lower themselves into huge tunnels and large pits in turns to explore these resources.


Similarly, the law maker questioned that if majority of gold deposits are in the North as claimed, does it mean that the records cannot be made public to allow for the generality of Nigerians to invest in the sector? Unlike in the Niger Delta where all the major tribes have reasonably high stakes in the oil and gas industry. Thus, he criticised the secrecy behind the PAGMDI scheme as he described it as a smokescreen designed to favour the Northern region of Nigeria, by giving them resource control. While the South has been advocating for resource control for so many years without any headway.


The point is, if the federal government could come up with such PAGMDI scheme which regulates and allow the northerners to control their gold by exploring and distribution; were miners can conclude with their activities and subsequently sell to Central Bank of Nigeria at N268 million per 12.5kg of gold bar, and pay tax to the federal government. This seems like the direct opposite of what is happening in the Niger Delta; and for the purpose if equity, fairness and social justice, the Niger Delta should also be given total resource control were the host communities can pay tax to the government.