Oil-producing communities under the aegis of Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas, HOSCON has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to cease paying the 13 percent derivation funds to the state governors and should instead, set up a committee, commission or Board that would oversee the release of the fund to oil-producing communities.
This is even has they accused past and present governors of the Niger Delta of mismanaging the funds due states in the region, totaling N12 trillion over 18 years. According to the President of HOSCON, Mr. Mike Emuh, “No law in the country states that 13 per cent derivation fund should be given to state governments. The President should set up a committee, commission or a Board that would manage the derivation money. It should be removed from the hands of the governors. “The money the governors are controlling today do not belong to them, it belongs to the host communities. The money should be removed from the hands of the governors and given to the host communities to manage.
“These governors have manage the 13% derivation fund for 16 to 18 years, over N12 trillion, yet we do not see the evidence of it in the Niger Delta. According to the law, the money belongs to the host communities, not to the state or local governments.”
Emuh accused politicians of fuelling militancy in the Niger Delta region, stating that these unscrupulous individuals had perpetually under-developed the region for their own selfish interest. He said, “The militancy that was experienced in the Niger Delta was caused by politicians, not by traditional rulers, not by host communities’ leaders. The boys have come to realize that. We spoke to them to stop whatever was illegal towards oil installations in the Niger Delta. For over one year now, they have listened to us and there is relative peace in the region at the moment. “The youth would no longer listen to the politicians, because they had been disappointed. They cannot even listen to the former militants and those that call themselves former warlords, who were getting these things for themselves.” He noted that to ensure this issue of pipeline surveillance contract comes to being, HOSCON had registered several security companies with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC and had also entered into partnership with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC.
Emuh further noted that the HOSCON was also in talks with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, indigenous and international oil companies to create an enabling environment for foreign investments to come in and develop the Niger Delta, as well as Nigeria in general.
“We have applied to the Ministry of Agriculture; we intend setting up farms all over the Niger Delta region to create jobs for our youths. HOSCON is also training youths on skills acquisition at its headquarters in Warri, for free,” he added
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