SIR: Worried about the present configuration of the petroleum bill drawn up by the executive arm of government awaiting the National Assembly's passage into law, Urhobo Social Club, Lagos foresees a situation whereby all Niger Delta indigenes in the near future will by this bill, if passed into law unamended, become foreigners in their homeland.

Several sections of the bill bother us as they are oppressive to our people. One of such sections has to do with the assertion that our communities that produce the oil, are to be regarded as "communities living in oil producing areas," instead of indigenous communities of oil producing areas. We want to state unequivocally that our communities own the land and the oil that is being produced from it. All over the world, oil belongs to the land where it is explored, ours cannot be treated differently.

As commendable as President Musa Yar'Adua's amnesty treaty with the Niger Delta militants is, this sort of oppressive policy embedded in the petroleum bill could jeopardise the good intention of the President and may provoke future restiveness of the Niger Delta militants. People may call them militants, but we call them "Freedom Fighters".

Also, all eyes are on the Federal Government to see if they will start and complete the new Petroleum University in Kaduna before the Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun, Warri, that was upgraded to a Petroleum University. We want to recall that sometimes in June this year, the Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan together with other four governors of the South South walked out of a meeting in protest regarding the Petroleum Bill and the planned relocation of the Petroleum University from Warri to Kaduna.

Urhobo Social Club, Lagos (USCL) seizes this opportunity to advise all elderstatesmen involved in the governance of this great nation to have the fear of God in their hearts.

Emmanuel Evue and Oghene Egoh,
For: Urhobo Social Club, Lagos.

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