eldoradoxx:
Pardon me if u find this post a bit lengthy, its becos the issues involved are quite controversial and currently generating heat in the Nigerian polity today. Oil is the mainstay of our mono economy, and contributes over 80% of her export and with a total estimated 36 billion barrels of fossil fuel reserve, oil will continue to play dominant role in the economy. However it must be noted that the bulk of Nigeria's oil is found offshore( in the sea) as against offshore(on land) deposit. Therefore the current debate is whether Niger Delta state should access 13% derivation from oil found offshore, this is because under international laws of the sea, it is a sovereign state, in this case and the 36 federating units that own the resources of its seas and not a component unit such as coastal states of Niger Delta. This argument is sound from international law perspective, oil found from the low water mark/ baseline or isobath measuring up to 12 nautical miles of its territorial sea and extending to a further 200NM of its Exclisive Economic Zone and continental shelf belongs to the entire country and cannot be attributed to any contiguous riparian or coastal state for calculating 13% oil derivation. This if strictly interpreted so means that 13% derivation must exclude oil found offshore which unfortunately is where the bulk of our oil is deposited. The implication is that an average Niger Delta state if this calculation is used might become as poor as any other state currently. After the supreme court decision that declared as void the revenue allocation formular that was arrived at by the fusion of offshore and onshore oil in reaching 13%, a political decision was reached at around 2002 where by an act of National Assembly, the dichotomy was abolished and thus merged the calculation formular so that Niger Delta state could benefit from 13% oil derivation irrespective of where it was found. Surprisingly, 10 years after the North led by Kwankwaso and Babangida Aliyu is pushinh for the abolition of the law which they claim has created mega rich Niger Delta and poorer North. Can this be accepted by Niger Delta that is clamouring for more control of oil revenue? My take has been that no doubt international law states that offshore resources belong to a sovereign entity and not to a component unit or a riparian state, however international law is whatever a nation makes out of it or defines as binding on it. Our socio-economic and political milieu made Nigeria to decide that equity and justice will better be served if 13% of the oil derivation is paid to coastal states. Therefor, these Governors should stop using international law to canvass support to an agenda that will throw Nigeria into another round of crisis in the ever volatile oil rich region. Another good point why 13%derivation must include offshore oil is that when ever there is oil spill offshore like we had in January when Shell spilled into the sea thousands of barrels of crude that was washed down onshore, who bears the burden? Is it the mallam in Kano tha is doing his irrigation farm, the cocoa farmer of Oshogbo or Palm wine tapper of Udi Enugu or the fisherman of the Niger Delta creeks?