9th July, 2014
Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
Delegates from the South west part of the country to the ongoing National Conference have disassociated themselves from the report of Consensus Group on resolving the impasse on derivation issue.
Dr. Kunle Olajide, Secretary South-West Delegation to the 2014 National Conference said in a statement on Wednesday that the decision was taken at a caucus meeting of the Yoruba delegates held on Wednesday.
It will be recalled that delegates from the north and the south took opposing positions on the critical issue of the amount to be paid as derivation during debates of the report of the Devolution of Power Committee which began last Wednesday.
While delegates from the south insisted on increase between 25 and 50 per cent, those from the north said nothing more than the position of the Committee on Devolution of Power would be acceptable to them.
The matter was immediately handed over to a special committee comprising leaders of each geo-political zones, who then picked other delegates from their zones, for discussion and possible resolution.
Nigeria’s former Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, who was introduced by General Ike Nwachukwu to present the report of the special committee, said the process of arriving at a solution was tedious but in the interest of the country.
He announced the committee’s decision that the derivation fund be increased from 13 per cent to 18 per cent and that the decision was reached after two straight days and several hours of meeting and negotiation between all the interest groups which extended beyond the leadership of the six geo-political zones.
He said the decision of the group was guided by the belief that there would be no winners and there would be no losers; and that the only winner would be the Nigerian
nation.
He also announced a 5 per cent federal revenue allocation for solid mineral development and another 5 per cent for Stabilisation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction for the development of Boko Haram infested areas in the North East, North West and North Central part of the country.
“We have reached agreement whereby no one will be completely unhappy,” he said amidst instant murmuring and applause from a cross-section of the delegates.
As soon as Professor Gambari ended his presentation, many hands went up for re-opening of debates on the issue while some delegates applauded the decision of the special committee.
Conference Deputy Chairman, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, after consultation with the Conference Chairman, Justice Idris Legbu Kutigi, announced that voting on the recommendations of the Committee on Devolution of Power would hold on Wednesday during which a decision would also be taken on the Gambari Report.
But ahead of Thursday voting, the Yoruba delegates, arising from the caucus meeting, rejected the report stating that the report gave a wrong impression of what the intervention fund was set to achieve.
According to them, the fund is aimed to serve the collective interest of the country and not a sectional interest as presented by Pro. Gambari.
“South West delegates are, however, view Gambari’s projection amount to depletion of the federation account through nebulous funds to promote insurgency in the country.
“It also aimed at legalising the impoverishment of non-oil bearing states in South-West, South-East and South-South. As these states, neither benefit from derivation nor the so-called intervention fund,” said the Yoruba delegates.