The plan by the All Progressives Congress, APC, to reintroduce the Onshore/Offshore oil dichotomy in the country is an attempt to divert the attention of the public from the problems confronting the country.
A former Minister of Lands and Housing, Chief Nduese Essien, made this remark when condemning the decision of the Mallam Nasir El-Rufai-led restructuring committee of the ruling party.
Essien who spoke on a live interview programme on AIT said like many other Nigerians, he was surprised that such a recommendation could be made on the grounds that offshore/onshore oil was protected by the Nigerian Navy.
“So the mineral oil available on land should be owned by the states apparently because it is protected by the Army and the Police. So, what distinction does that make? He forgets that the states that border the continental shelf suffer massively,” Essien said.
According to him, it was not fair to have a distinction between offshore oil and onshore oil.
Essien, who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Akwa Ibom said APC committeee’s definition of Resource Control posited that the states should produce their resources and pay an accruable percentage to the federal government, as agreed percentage contributed to the federal government for the maintenance of services.
Essien said the similarities in the recommendations by the various committees set up by successive governments in Nigeria meant that the committee set up by the APC–led federal government to restructure Nigeria was an attempt to divert attention of the people from important issues.
“This is six months to the primaries. There will be no time for them to implement the recommendation. It is going to be a campaign issue for the next election, in which case, by the time they end the election, it will all be forgotten.
READ ALSO : Nigeria’s fuel scarcity solution in sight
“Come to think of it, the APC was not prepared on restructuring even though it was part of their manifesto for the 2015 elections, but when they came into office, they forgot until the pressure mounted from all parts of the country for restructuring that they had to set up a committee to divert attention from the pressure.
“At the heat of the restructuring debate, they came up with the recommendation to show the people that, okay, we are considering it. Now they have come out with the report in January, how many more months?
“Sometime last year, the National Assembly started a process of reviewing the constitution that could lead to restructuring. Wherever restructuring was involved, the National Assembly members of the APC did not support it,” he added.
