The draft supposedly backed by some Northern legislators in the National Assembly to amend Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is an assault on the poor oil-bearing areas, according to the Centre for Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade (CHURAC).
In a statement sent to the media over the weekend, the group said it was deplorable that at this time of “national turmoil,” some people were trying to stir up the tumultuous waters of insurgency.
The statement was signed by Barrister Alaowei E. Cleric, Chairman of CHURAC’s Board of Trustees (BoT), who stated that removing the 13 percent derivation from the constitution would appear to declare the environmentally degraded and despoiled oil producing communities as slaves who deserved nothing in Nigeria, including the resources found on their lands.
According to him, “It simply means that the oil bearing communities should suffer environmental destruction without remediation.
“The last time we checked, Chapter Two of the Constitution declared Nigeria as a country of social justice with equal partners where no ethnic groups should be discriminated against in any manner.
“Will the oil host communities or better still the Niger Delta region be at peace with the Federal Government, if this economic apathy is perfected by their oppressors?”
He stressed that Nigeria has already been plagued with too many problems, adding that it would not afford to have another one as the country might not survive the conflagration.
“The sponsors of that draconian bill should rather seek to increase the derivation to 50% as was the case in the 60s.
“We call on the South South lawmakers to sponsor a similar bill at the National Assembly to allow the producing states to have 100% control of the natural resources, while they pay royalties to the central government. That is even the crux of federalism,” he added.
