By Sunday Elom
Former Nigeria President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that crude oil or any other mineral resources located in any region or territory in Nigeria do not belong to the areas they are found only.
Obasanjo made the assertion when he responded to a letter he received from the former federal commissioner of information, Chief Edwin Clark, a foremost Ijaw statesman. Chief Clark had in the letter complained of Obasanjo’s “unprovoked outburst against the people of the Niger Delta.”
But the former president maintained that the ownership claim of crude oil by the Niger Delta region amounts to creating sovereign entities within a state. Niger Delta region plays host to at least 80% of Nigeria’s crude oil, which accounts for about 90% of the country’s revenue generation.
In his response to Chief Clark’s letter, Obasanjo insisted that those who purchase crude oil from Nigeria enter into contractual relationship with Nigeria as a sovereign country and not the Niger Delta, adding that if for any reason the region is threatened by external forces, it will be the responsibility of the federal government of Nigeria to mobilize its security forces to defend the region.
Obasanjo maintained that as the crude in the Niger Delta, he stands on the same logic in respect of the gold being mined in Zamfara state. He said that he had proposed that equity and justice demand that those domiciled in these locations are entitled to more of the material benefits accruing from the crude oil or other minerals.
Obasanjo’s open letter to Chief Clark read: “Let me proceed with the most basic constitutional fact that you cannot have two sovereign entities within a State which is what your position of Niger Delta ownership claim of the crude oil found in that location amounts to.
“All those who purchase crude oil from Nigeria enter into contractual relationships with Nigeria not with the Niger Delta. The territory of Nigeria is indivisible, inclusive of the resources found therein. No territory in Nigeria including the minerals found therein belongs to the area of location and this remains so until the federation is dissolved.
“This is the position of the Nigerian constitution and international law. If there is a threat of violence to any part of Nigeria today including the Niger Delta, it is the Nigerian military backed by any other machinery that can be procured or established at the federal level that will respond to any such threat. In principle and practice, the position I have taken on the location of mineral resources in any part of Nigeria is the legal and constitutional position.
“May I also recall the adjunct position I proposed that equity and justice demand that those domiciled in these locations are entitled to more of the material benefits accruing from the crude oil or other minerals.
“At the end of the day, it may transpire that our linguistic differences on this matter are no more than semantics. And we stand on the same logic with respect to the criminal mining of gold deposits in Zamfara state today or any other state in Nigeria or any other part of Nigeria.
“The Constitution that affects Niger Delta region affects Zamfara state where gold is found and if anybody at the federal level has reminisced in implementing the constitution, then that is a different matter.
“The gold in Ilesha, Osun State, and the lead in Ebonyi State, all come under the same law and Constitution.
“The 1963 Constitution Section 140, titled “Mining Royalties and Rents,” stated thus: “(1) There shall be paid by the Federation each Region a sum equal to fifty per cent of (a) the proceeds of any royalty received by the Federation in respect of any minerals extracted in that Region; and (b) any mining RENTS derived by the Federation during that year from within that Region.
“The Constitution that affects Niger Delta region affects Zamfara state where gold is found and if anybody at the federal level has remised in implementing the Constitution, then that is a different matter.”
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