₦airaland Forum

RESOLUTIONS of the joint parliamentary ses­sion of the South-South and South-East state Houses of Assembly held in Owerri, Imo State have been adopted by the Delta State House of Assembly.

The joint parliamentary session took resolutions on two key issues affect­ing the two geo-political zones.

Majority Leader of Delta State House of Assembly, Tim Owhefere moved the motion, which was unani­mously adopted during plenary yesterday.

Owhefere, who doubles as the chairman, House Committee on Informa­tion, told newsmen after the plenary that the two key issues were the Graz­ing Reserve Bill before the National Assembly and the Niger Delta question.

He explained that the regional lawmakers con­demned the bill on the grazing reserve, as it was another obnoxious Land Use Act that had impacted negatively on the people.

He said it was observed that about 80 percent of land in the geopolitical zones were already cov­ered by oil exploration and exploitation with the attendant pollution, say­ing that the remaining 20 percent in use for farming and other purposes cannot be ceded for the purpose of cattle grazing.

Owhefere emphasised that the regional legisla­tors rejected the Grazing Reserve Bill, saying it was anti-people of the two zones and challenged the federal lawmakers to do the needful by throwing out the bill for the sake of unity of the country.

On the situation in the Niger Delta region, Ow­hefere said the joint ses­sion took a stand against pipeline vandalism in the area but urged the Federal Government to reassess its present disposition on the issue.

He stated that it was resolved that the federal government should enter into a peaceful dialogue with critical stakeholders in the zones to resolve the dispute and operate with­in the rules of engagement without incurring collat­eral damage similar to that of Odi massacre of 1999.

Lagos – Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state has bemoaned the present economic situation in the country saying that even the hardship experienced during the Biafra civil war between 1967 and 1970 pales into significance when compared to what is being experienced in the nation today.

Speaking recently in an interview with journalists, the governor said the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari did not declare a state of emergency on the economy does not imply that Nigeria is not inching to that direction.

He said the worsening economic situation is largely responsible for his inability to pay salaries as he has been receiving less than N200m monthly allocation from the federal government when the actual amount he needs to pay workers salaries is N1.7bn.

On the reason for the downturn in the economy, Aregbesola attributed it to massive theft of crude oil under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) controlled federal government.

According to him, the failure of former President Goodluck Jonathan to secure Nigeria’s pipelines led to the nation losing $40m daily to oil theft.

“What we experience in Nigeria today is due to the inexplicable theft of 400, 000 barrel of oil every day during the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP”.

“ It is disheartening to know that from June 2013 till when the regime left in May, 2015, that theft amounted to about 19 per cent of the Nigerian common wealth. If we calculate what the nation is losing by 100 dollars, Nigeria loses 40 million dollars daily to oil theft”.

“Nobody has ever asked us how we are managing to pay salaries since we started getting less than N200m as allocation since September 2015. A sum of N1.7 billion is spent on workers’ salaries every month”

“Even the civil war was not as biting as what we are facing in Nigeria now. Because they did not declare economic state of emergency in Nigeria does not mean that Nigeria is not near to that” he said.