By Clifford Ndujihe

He is distorting history – Briggs

Countering, Ann-Kio Briggs challenged the Federal Government to give Nigerians the monthly expenditure of oil and gas revenue saying she is ready to take on anyone on the issue with facts

She said: ‘’I call on the oil and gas producing states, and the communities to educate themselves on the facts and lies on the claims that exploration of oil and gas in the Niger Delta was carried out by using northern resources.

This claim is divisive and a lie, and will continue to fuel the anger that will continue to hold up our needs to agitate for 101 per cent ownership and control of our God-given resources.

As long as people from the North continue to feed these lies to themselves and the rest of Nigeria we in the Niger Delta will not step down from our agitation for ownership and control of our resources. These claims are lies, they insult and assault us as a people and region, that has made sacrifices the beneficiaries of our natural resources will never make. If some foolish and ignorant Niger Delta people are willing to sell their birth rights, the majority of us are not. If the greedy amongst us are willing to be beggars for what is our own, the majority that have been denied and impoverished for over 50 years, are no longer willing to accept these assaults.

‘’The first and unsuccessful exploration for oil was in 1908 by Nigeria Bitumen Coy. & British Colonial Petroleum around Okitipupa. (Before Amalgamation).

In 1938, Shell D’Arcy was granted exploration licence to explore for oil.

In 1955, Mobil Oil Corporation started oil exploration in the Niger Delta.

In 1956 Shell BP (formerly Shell D’Arcy) at that time the only concessionaire finally STRUCK oil at Oloibiri in commercial quantity, after over 50 years of exploration.

These are figures sourced from Carland 1985, (colonial office and Nigeria (1898-1914) and annual report of the colonies; Northern Nigeria 1904 and annual report of the colonies, Northern Nigeria 1906 -1907 to support my claims and l will only respond to people who have cross checked or have superior facts to counter mine.

‘’Nigeria of Southern and Northern protectorates were amalgamated for the simple economic reason that the colonial British government was running the North on deficit as the expenditure in the North was more than its revenue while the revenue in the South was more than its expenditure.

‘’Therefore, unless the North of Nigeria were oil prospecting partners with the Nigeria Bitumen Coy. & British Colonial Petroleum in 1908, Shell D’Arcy in 1938, Mobil Oil Corporation in 1955 and Shell BP in 1956, it never used it’s groundnut money in our Niger Delta.

‘’If the people of the North or the government of Northern Nigeria were not partners or shareholders in these private investment companies how on earth was money from groundnut, hides and skins used to explore for oil and gas?

‘’The attempts to change the economic history of Nigeria to justify the injustice of looting the resources from Niger -Delta to share among a few is not acceptable. The greed of a few to use the Nigeria state to continue to benefit maximally from the Niger Delta wealth while denying the rightful owners even the 50 per cent they enjoyed in the days of groundnut and cocoa is no longer acceptable to the people of the Niger Delta.

‘’No amount of twisting, turning, threats, blackmail, and lies will stop our calls for equity and justice.

‘’It was in 1973, three years after the civil war that the First Participation Agreement (FPA) saw the Federal Government’s acquisition of 35 per cent shares in the oil companies. In 1974, the Second Participation Agreement (SPA), the Federal Government equity was increased to 55 per cent.

My question, on behalf of my people and region to the people of the North to tell us, the owners and impoverished people of Niger-Delta, how their groundnut proceeds was used to fund oil prospecting and operations in my Niger Delta.’’

How South has been subsidising North

Indeed, many southern leaders have picked holes in the Northern leader’s claim that the North built the country through agriculture. According to them, as early as 1910, the two southern regions – East and West had always generated more revenues than the North, a major reason they said influenced the British amalgamation of Southern and Northern protectorates.

In an article, Structural Constraints to Socio-economic Development in Nigeria, published on November 11, 2007, Kayode Oladele said the increasing pressure to amalgamate Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1914 appeared to have been motivated by two socio-economic factors – to relieve the British treasury of financial burden, and surpluses derived from Southern Nigeria could be used to subsidize the North.

In furtherance of these, he said Mr. L. Harcourt, the then Secretary of State for the colonies, while addressing the British Parliament in June 1910 said: “In Southern Nigeria, the revenue has increased by £867,000 and the expenditure by £661,000 and there is for the current year (1910) an estimated surplus of £120,000… Northern Nigeria has up to now been and still is a subsidized protectorate, but whereas in 1906, the Grant-in-Aid…was £315,000, in this current year, after providing for such interest, the Grant-in-Aid asked for is only £156,000 or less than half, and with the amalgamation …… Grants in aid I hope that we may be able to set a short term to these Grants-in-Aid and at the same time relieve the Treasury from its liabilities and the protectorate from Treasury control (House of Commons Debates, 29 June, 1910, Vol. 18 Cols 1036-. In his book Nigeria: The Tribes, The Nation or the Race? F.A.O. Schwarz showed how much each of the then three regions (East, West and North) got from the federal distribution pool between 1959 and 1962. According to the book, while the former Eastern Region generated more revenues, it received the less from the distribution pool compared to Western and Northern regions.

Then, revenue allocation was based on 50 per cent derivation, per capita distribution, population and balanced development among the regions. For instance, in 1959-60 fiscal year, the North generated 5,396 million Pounds and got 12,124 million Pounds (69.2 per cent) from the Distribution Pool; West generated 4,273 million Pounds and received 15,417 million Pounds (78.3 per cent) while the East generated 5,341 million Pounds and got 9, 413 million Pounds (63.8 per cent). In 1960-61, the North’s IGR nose-dived to 3,885 million Pounds but it got an increased allocation -13,775 million Pounds (78 per cent). Within the year, the West generated 4,294 million Pounds and received 16,250 million Pounds (79.1 per cent) while the Eastern Region’s IGR was 6,189 million Pounds and it was allocated 10,629 million Pounds (63.2 per cent). Also, in 1961-62, the IGR/Allocation in millions of Pounds were: North, 6,333/15,504 (71 per cent); West, 6,031/16,307 (63.2 per cent); and East 7,274/13,390 (64.8 per cent. The East started getting a raise following improved oil exploration.

By 1963 after the creation of Mid-Western Region and increased revenue from crude oil, Schwarz said the money distributed came from two sources: 30 per cent of all import duties (other than the few mentioned in the table, which are transferred in their entirety to the regions, and the duty on beer, spirits, and wine, which was kept by the Federal Government) goes into a Distributable Pool Account. So did 30 per cent of the royalties and rents received from mining enterprises, including oil wells.

Then the money in the Distributable Pool was transferred to the regions in the ratio of   40 to the North, 31 to the East, 18 to the West, and six to the Mid-West. Contribution of crude-oil and gas to Nigeria’s total export The North’s contribution to the Distributable Pool of the Federation paled into insignificance from 1970 when crude oil became the chief revenue earner of the country. Throughout the decade of the 1960, the contribution of proceeds from crude-oil to total Federal Government revenue was of limited importance. However, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Statistical Bulletin, Golden Jubilee Edition, December 2008, Nigeria earned N166 million from crude-oil in 1970 representing 26.1 percent of the total revenue. This jumped to N12.353 billion (81.1 percent) out of annual total of N15.233 billion in 1980. By 1990 the contribution of oil earnings to total Federal Government revenue stood at N71.887 billion (73.2 percent) of total revenue. In 2000, proceeds from crude-oil and gas contributed N1.591 trillion out of a total of N1.906 trillion representing 83.5 percent. And the contribution of crude-oil and gas earning to total federal government revenue in percentage continued to hovered around 80 per cent except in 2007 and 2009 when it fell to 78 percent as a result fall in production and export resulting from political tension in the oil producing areas. In 2008, the figure was N6.530 trillion (82.9 percent) out of a total federally collected revenue of N7.868 trillion.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/06/south-oil-resources-not-developed-northern-funds-ann-kio-briggs/

Front Page: Mynd44 lalasticlala

Simple truth never subsided south. The assertion that Northe developed south was too ridiculous. Funny enough this belief is believed by many. This is why the shouldn’t take history out of schools. It's makes for uninformed population.

ofcourse Ango Abdullahi is on a wild goose chase. The north has always been poor the amalgamation was to reduce the loss suffered by the british. the southern region provided the resources for the colonialist. Groundnut couldnt stimulated dev in the North is it the south that was resource rich that groundnut dev. groundnut wasnt an international commodity when oil was discovered. moreover oil was funded through MOU and the FG contributed no dime

Seriously?

You mean that there are people who actually take these dullards serious?

That thing, Ango Abdullahi, does not deserve a response, not even from a pig!

Disregard that pathetic filth and his ilks, Ann.
In this age of information, ignorance is a choice.

In 1956, British declared eastern region of Nigeria as the most lucrative estate in British Empire. Point of correction, crude oil has been struck in commercial quantity elsewhere in eastern region of Nigeria before Oloibiri.

The revisionist quota system "Professor" must have been high on cheap drugs when he spewed such ridiculous nonsense about the North developing the South. How can an unclad man give you clothes? or a poor man give you wealth? Can an impoverished region subsidize business interests in a wealthier one? You can't give what you don't have. It's simple common sense.

I am glad she said this.

The former Eastern region was rich in palm oil.

We did not have to worry about groundnut or cocoa to subsidize us.

x

I have never heard of a nation becoming rich based on groundnut or cocoa.

But I have heard of oil palm making a nation wealthy. Malaysia used oil palm kernels from Eastern Nigeria to become wealthy.

Now look at the difference between Malaysia and Nigeria!

You guys should commenting should realise Adullahi comments are what alot of these guys really believe.

ItsMeAboki:


Thank you Ango Abdullahi, you have captured the spirit and feelings of northern youths; whoever insults and doesn't want to be with the north should get out of the north - period.

The Niger Delta needs more leaders like Ann-kio Briggs.