Don advocates movable refineries to meet energy needs.

Port Harcourt – A university don, Prof. Godwin Igwe, has suggested that governments should build modular refineries in all states of the federation to meet the energy needs of Nigerians.
Igwe said in Port Harcourt on Tuesday that modular refineries were easy to assembly and were movable.
He said the building of such refineries would also be handy in addressing fuel scarcity problems.
Prof. Igwe is the Director, Centre for Gas, Refining and Petrochemicals, Institute of Petroleum Studies, University of Port Harcourt.
“Modular refineries are very simple refineries. You don’t have to make 300,000 barrels a day or whatever higher amount.
“You can tune it to such a level that you could produce between 20,000 to 100,000 barrels a day, and it’s movable. It is not like a big structured, big refinery.
“It will solve the problem by not making the diesel and other products that are involved in refining.
“You are only cracking for gasoline. If you have a process, you make diesel, you make the bottoms, at each boiling temperature, you have different materials, it is a manufacturing process.’’
Igwe also suggested that energy banks be set up to assist small-scale entrepreneurs who would work at the modular refineries.
He said government should discourage people involved in illegal refineries by making them to work at modular refineries.
“The bank will be geared towards people who are making and producing fuel for each of the 36 states. Our rich people can do that, by supporting these small-scale people.
“We have to support our entrepreneurs and most of them are very smart, but they do not have the money to back them up. (NAN)

Hope In The Time Of Trial By Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah.

Bishop Matthew Hassan KUKAH

By Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah

We boast of our troubles because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance brings acceptance and this acceptance brings hope. This hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit who is God’s gift to us (Rom 5: 4)
Although it is true that these are trying times for Nigeria, nay, the world at large, it is not true that the causes of these trials are the same for all nations. Whereas our leaders love to seek refuge from their inefficiency by assuring us that we are not alone because neither corruption nor insecurity are peculiar to us, they forget that the disease might be the same, but the causes and cures are different. Whereas corrupt government officials in atheistic China could lose their lives if found guilty of an infraction against the state in their line of duty, in Nigeria, the most religious nation in the world, these same persons could actually prolong their lives by the size of their corruption. National honours, recognition by religious and traditional leaders all go to add to the give legitimacy to corruption by the elite. But the cumulative impact of corruption has come back to haunt us as it has become clear especially in the last ten years.
How will Nigeria survive these trials? In the end, how will this endurance bring us hope and is there any chance that this hope will not disappoint us? We prayed for an end to colonial rule and it came and went. No sooner did we become independent than our hopes were dashed. Then the military came. We endured, prayed and hope that the country would return to civil rule. That too has come to pass and today, we are more sorrowful and angry than at any time in our history.
In response to the Madalla bombing, I published an appeal to Nigerians titled, Do Not Be Afraid.In it, I enjoined Nigerians to remain steadfast and firm because we will survive the murderous trials and persecutions by the agents of evil who desecrate religion by wearing a devilish mask. Now, it is time for us to look up to the meaning of the cross of Christ as symbol of the triumph of good over evil. The challenge is whether indeed we as Christians can embark on genuine personal and communal repentance and commitment to turn to the true teachings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He came that we might havelife and have it to the full(Jn. 10: 10). The humiliation and scandal of His death is the guarantee that all who die in Him will have eternal life (Jn. 11: 25, I Cor. 15: 22). In His cross is our hope that we Christians will understand that suffering has a meaning in God’s plans. At a time when Christians are made to believe that suffering is an aberration, we need to pray that God helps us to understand and appreciate its purifying effects in our lives as individuals and as a nation. We have seen the end of slavery and in our own times, the end of apartheid. In each case, the people become stronger.
To be sure, these are tough times for Christians in Nigeria. There is no doubt that the negligence of successive Government has created a climate of impunity in which Christians have continued to feel trapped in many parts their own country especially in the some northern states. Over the years, the federal and state governments have looked the other way as our Churches gradually became objects of desecration and target practice by a band of miscreants and criminal youths who claim to be Muslims. Our priests have been slaughtered from Kaduna to Maiduguri, thousands of innocent Christians have been trapped and murdered in their churches and homes. Their places of worship and their properties have been destroyed while the governments of Nigeria continued to fiddle and fritter away the opportunity for national cohesion. The incompetence of governments has opened up a vacuum where criminals wear a religious mask.
Rather than feel under siege or threatened, we Christians must arise to the fact that these are the trials that bring forth endurance. It is sad to hear Christians sound as if Jesus made a mistake by offering a higher goal than the murderers and arsonists can understand. Faced with protracted injustice and violence, I hear some Christians wonder what Jesus meant when He said: You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, let him slap you on the left as well (Mk 5: 38-9). Some Christians have sought to moderate their thoughts by claiming that after offering their two cheeks which have been struck by the enemy, it is time that we must feel justified to seek revenge. Others claim that these criminals must be taught a lesson so that they do not think that they have a monopoly of violence.
The anger and the frustrations of our people are understandable especially against the backdrop of an incompetent state which has lost its ability to apprehend and punish criminals. But, as the late Rev Martin Luther King said, It is only the love of Jesus that is capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. It was well after His executioners had completed their work that they acknowledged that, Truly, this was indeed the Son of God (Mt. 27: 54). Mahatma Gandhi who preached non-violence was not a Christian. Rev. Martin Luther King or a Nelson Mandela, his disciples embraced non-violence and in the end, they all have triumphed and left the world a memorable legacy that years of violence and vengeance could not produce.
Forgiveness and good neighbourliness have always been part of our lives as Africans before evil crept into our lives, dividing us into Christians and Muslimsrather than brothers and sisters. Easter gives us Christians a chance to preach this message because we are Christians not because of what anyone else believes or thinks.
Jesus said to us: I tell you who hear me. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you and pray for those who ill-treat you (Lk 6: 27, Mt 5: 44). We are most gratified by the fact that over time, our Christian youths have continued to conduct themselves in the most peaceful manner in keeping with the laws of the land even against provocation. Till date, there is no record of any Christian youth who has ever set out to burn or destroy a mosque. Wherever anything has happened to the contrary, it has been an act of self-defense to repel these miscreants. I hope that their Muslim counterparts can learn a lesson from this and hopefully, together, our youths can become agents of peace. But we religious leaders must work hard to create environment for collaboration and avoid stoking the emblems of division and hatred through what we teach our youth. The federal government must be awake to its duty because it is its negligence that has left the public space open to scoundrels.
Sadly, our nation is still in the woods despite claims of superfluous religiosity. A climate of moral relativism and uncertainty, a blurred vision, hangs gloomily in the air. A sense of what or who is right or wrong is contested. Can any senior public officer ever go to jail in Nigeria for stealing? The answer is, it depends. Can Nigerians ever agree that the stealing of state resources is a sin? The answer is, it depends.
Do we know how anyone can get a job that they qualify for in Nigeria? The answer is, it depends. Do we know how a good man or woman can win an election in Nigeria without money or the power to corrupt the system? The answer is, it depends. How do you gain admission into a University in Nigeria? The answer is, it depends. What qualifications do you need to get a job of a contract in Nigeria? The answer is, it depends. Having secured a job, how do you retain it or get promoted? The answer is, it depends. Is there any hope that one day the Judiciary will really and truly become blind to social status and power in Nigeria? The answer is, it depends. Will Nigeria come out of this mess or ever develop a sense of shame? The answer is, it depends.
The challenge of Easter is for us to rethink the reality of our faith. Although it easy for us to say that he world is in crisis, the fact is that indeed, it is religion and the loss of its moral compass that account for this crisis. In Nigeria, we have watched over the years as those in power have seduced religion and religious leaders and have now domesticated religion. We have watched as religion has lost its moral authority, independence and capacity to speak truth to power. We have surrendered our altars to politicians and men and women of influence and power. The thunderous prophetic power of the Church is gradually becoming a whisper, with religion becoming a balm to cover the ugliness of corruption. The Church has been caught up with power and now, the hunter has become the hunted. Prayers warriors, sorcerers and prophets, for a little share of the filthy lucre are promising to arm-twist God to do the will of their clients even when they steal elections or loot the state treasury. Is it any wonder that truth has been so relativised that a culture of it depends has now emerged?
In this climate of moral relativism, can the word of God regain its power? The answer is yes, because,St Paul assured us that: The word of God is living and powerful! It is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12). We must recover this power so we can cut through the clouds of doubts that have dulled our consciences. Our Christian politicians must be encouraged to make a difference in our political life. We have models and the Catholic Church has continued to point the way for Christians to make a difference in their public life.
To this end, the Catholic Church has recognized the nobility of politics as a vocation and a call to public service. In 2000, the late Holy Father, Pope John Paul 11 made St Thomas More (A Man for All Seasons) the patron saint and model of Christian politicians. Closer home, our own late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere is on his way to being beatified and presented by the Catholic Church as a model for African politicians. Against this backdrop, I want to appeal to our Christians to continue to uphold the principles of the Christian Gospel especially as it pertains to honesty, distributive justice, accountability, integrity and the pursuit of the common good. May the Lord raise up saintly politicians for us.
Finally, the simplicity of life of Jesus should be the model for us Christians especially in an environment where modesty is gradually giving way to unruly, unscrupulous and greedy quest and display of often ill-gotten wealth. We learn from Jesus how not to use power wrongly because; the one who was God did not take advantage of his equality with God but became obedient unto death (Phil 2: 8). There is a lot for us to learn from the selflessness of the early Church as we learn from their life of love and sharing. There is need to listen to the words of St James who has told us that: True and genuine religion is this, taking care of orphans and widows in their suffering and keeping oneself from being corrupted by the world (James 1: 27).

It is this insatiable greed that has destroyed our nation, created a climate of violence and chaos. In celebrating Easter, we must think of Jesus, the one who had everything but came to the world in a borrowed womb (Lk. 1:38), was born in a borrowed stable (Lk. 2:7), had no where to lay His head (Mt. 8:20, Lk. 9: 58), had His last supper on a borrowed room and table (Mk 14: 14-15), rode to Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey (Mk 11: 2-3) and even in death, was buried in a borrowed tomb (Lk. 23: 53). The Lord Himself has assured us, Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust in me (Jn. 14: 1).
The late American President, Benjamin Franklin said:Doing an injury puts you below your enemy. Avenging injury may make you even with him. 
But forgiving sets you above your enemy. May the one who forgave his killers who did not know what they were doing (Lk 23:34), grant us the grace to forgive those who have caused us untold grief and brought our nation almost to its knees.  May He grant peace to those who have died in these trials and consolation to their families. Nigerians will laugh again for our Redeemer liveth. A happy and blessed Easter to you.
Bishop Matthew Hassan KUKAH
Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese.

Southsouth, Southeast, Southwest battle for INEC’s Secretary.

By Yusuf Alli, Abuja.

INEC Chairman Prof. Jega

•Kaugama bows out in six months •Odds favour Southwest

Three geo-political zones are battling for the office of the Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which may be vacant in the next six months.
The zones are Southsouth, Southeast and the Southwest.
Also, there are indications that the presidency may bring in an experienced civil servant outside the electoral commission for the post. But INEC staff members are also pushing for the appointment of one of their experienced directors.
The said since there are about 67 directors in the commission, it is needless bringing in another director who will have to learn the rudiments of managing an Electoral Management Board (EMB).
The tenure of the current Secretary of INEC, Alhaji Abdullahi Kaugama would end in the next six months, it was learnt.
Besides the tenure issue, it was also learnt that in line with the ongoing reforms of INEC by its Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Secretary would have been asked to step aside because he is from the same Northwest geopolitical zone with INEC chair.
Although Jega inherited INEC Secretary, there had been agitations within INEC that a zone cannot produce the two top posts in the electoral commission.
A source in government said: “Since the INEC chairman is from the North, naturally the position of Secretary will come from the South. I am aware that this has been the pattern at least since the Second Republic (1979 to1983).
“What we have now is that the three zones in the South (Southsouth, Southeast and Southwest) are jostling for the office. 
“As a matter of fact, the Southsouth has thrown up some candidates including the Administrative Secretary of the commission in Imo State Mr. Udoh from Cross River State, Head of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) from Akwa Ibom, Okop; the Director of Political Party Monitoring from Delta State, Mrs. Regina Omo-Agege, and former Head of Legal Affairs, Wole Uzzi.
“The odds may however favour the Southwest because out of the three zones, only the Southwest has never produced either the chairman or Secretary of the electoral commission. But some stakeholders want the office thrown open to all the zones.
“It is left to INEC management to come up with a benchmark for the selection of the new secretary.
“If INEC is allowed to choose its Secretary from within, it has to pick one out of the 67 directors on its payroll.
A breakdown of the directors in the commission is as follows:  Niger (two); Delta (three); Kaduna (two); Sokoto (one); Benue (nine) Anambra (nine); Zamfara (two); Cross River (three); Enugu (one); Kano (one); Plateau (three); Imo (four); Akwa Ibom (three); Bayelsa (two); Kogi (one); Katsina (one); Osun (one); Abia (three); Gombe (one); Kebbi (three); Lagos (two); Edo (three); Ogun (one); Bauchi (two); Jigawa (one); Yobe (one); and Borno  (two).
Another source however claimed that attempts by Jega-led INEC to start its reforms with the choice of a new Secretary may suffer some setbacks as the Presidency is contemplating bringing in an experienced civil servant on board.
The INEC officials are however opposed to the plan because the commission has enough directors who could fit into the bill.
The source said: “I think some politicians are trying to pull the strings to have a civil servant from outside as INEC secretary. They probably want somebody they could control.
“Yet, this was the same method that almost crippled INEC in the past. Most of the former secretaries came from the civil service who owed allegiance to the powers that be. In line with INEC reform focus, the PricewaterhouseCoopers Report favours a Secretary from within.
“If a Secretary comes from outside, he will just start learning which may not augur well for the system.
“Most staff favour internal candidate for the job. We have had stability in INEC because Abdullahi A. Kaugama had been part of the service since 1987.
“Kaugama started his Federal Service Career with the then National Electoral Commission (NEC) as an Electoral Officer in Kano from March 1987 to November 1992; he rose to become the Chief Personal Officer (NEC) Jigawa till April 1994. He later became Deputy Director (Admin and Human Resources) at INEC Headquarters Abuja from May 2004 to March 2005.
“He was promoted Director on GL 17 while still serving as the Administrative Secretary of INEC Katsina State, a position he held until 1st February 2007, when he was appointed the acting Secretary of the Commission.
“If the government imposes a Secretary on INEC, it will not be tidier enough for the system and it might have implications for the transparency of the electoral process in 2015. That was a major internal challenge which INEC had during the annulment of June 12, 1993 election.”

Jonathan has admitted failure, says ACN.

The Action Congress of Nigeria has described the lamentations of President Goodluck Jonathan at the opening of the 52nd Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association as the most criticised president in the world, as an admission of failure, incompetence and unpreparedness to govern.
Jonathan at the conference wondered why he was being held responsible for the state of insecurity, power failure, decaying infrastucture even though his administration inherited these problems
In a statement issued in Ibadan on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said that what a nation expects from a president even at a time of crisis are words that will inspire the citizens and give them confidence that the helmsman is on top of the situation and not the kind of words credited to President Jonathan which are only capable of demoralising the citizenry and telling them things are out of control and that he is completely at loss as at what to do.
“Great leaders in the world like Winston Churchill, Dwight Eisenhower, JF Kennedy are remembered today more importantly for the quality of leadership they provided their various nations at moments of crisis. Even in the face of imminent defeat and paralysing casualties Winston Churchill was still able to inspire and rally his people to victory and faced with Cuban Missile crisis President J. F. Kennedy did not throw up his hands in despondency,” the party added.
“Hasn’t anyone told President Jonathan that the buck stops on his desk? Hasn’t anyone told President Jonathan that an administration inherits both the assets and liabilities of his predecessor in office. Hasn’t anyone told President Jonathan that his responsibilities as President include clearing the mess left by his predecessors in office while at the same time leaving his own legacies. Does President Jonathan expect sympathy from the citizens by this open admission of incompetence and resignation to failure, the party asked.
“What Nigerians expect from their leader are uplifting words, words of inspiration that can bring out the hidden potentials of its citizens, words that will galvanise Nigerians to positive action and imbue them with self esteem and not the kind of lamentations of President Jonathan that have served only to confirm that the ship of state has no helmsman and everyone is at peril,” the party concluded.
PMNews.

Electricity will drop by 300MW after rainy season – NERC.

 by ALLWELL OKPI.

Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said power generation will drop by 300 megawatts after rainy season and this will partly cancel the improvement in electricity supply experienced recently in some parts of the country.

While answering questions during a recent e-conference on power sector reforms, organised by Spaces for Change, a human rights organisation, the Chairman of the NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, said the recent improvement had been due to repairs of some power plants and high water volume occasioned by the rainy season.

Amadi told the moderator of the e-conference, Zainab Usman, of the International Crisis Group, Brussels, that it was unrealistic to expect more than 5000MW by December.

He urged Nigerians not to be too hopeful about the recent improvement, stating that a massive haulage of power will come in the near future.

“The current improvement in generation is because of repairs on plants which resulted in the recovery of lost capacity, and of course, the rise in rainfall has helped us to recover about 200 to 300MW lost during the dry season.

“We have over 20000MW of licensed power. If we succeed in creating a market that allows for these licensees to get to bankability for their projects, then we are home and dry. So, we should not invest much hope on this small improvement.

“The key thing is to let Nigerians know that although in the next eight months or so, we may not see a major haul of new power, in the subsequent eight months, we will make significant and sustainable progress,” he said.

Amadi noted that the capacity building embarked upon by NERC was yet to yield results in terms of improvement in power generation and distribution.

Amadi also noted the bane of the power sector has been corruption, which had continued to undermine the investments made in the sector.

He said, but for corruption, the National Integrated Power Project initiated by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration would have provided at least an additional 5000MW of power.

Amadi also reiterated that the prepaid meters were to be distributed to customers free of charge.

“Meters are no longer to be paid for by customers. That is the law. But practice may be different in many different places. Please refuse to pay for meters and report anyone who asks or collects money for meter to NERC and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,” he said.

Abuja not designed for common man –Bala.

THE Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Bala Mohammed, at the weekend stunned his audience when he disclosed that the Abuja Master Plan was not envisaged to accommodate the needs of the common man.
Mohammed spoke at the formal signing of the agreement for an Addendum of Variation of Scope Contract with the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) to facilitate the completion of the multi-billion naira Abuja Light Rail  Project, which commenced in 2006 but had been comatose since then due to lack of funds.
His words: “With all regrets,  Abuja initially did not capture the needs and aspiration of the common people and the middle level manpower that we have in terms of affordable housing.”
According to the minister, Abuja, the nation’s capital was designed to accommodate only a million people, but   that the territory now has a population of about four to five million people living in the area thereby putting pressure on available infrastructural facilities.
“Abuja has more than four to five million people living in a place where it is supposed to be inhabited with only about a million people at the moment,” he said.
The FCT minister, however, disclosed that the government was  poised  to provide infrastructural facilities at the satellite towns of the territory to give comfort to the middle class workforce that lives outside the city centre, and whose earnings may not afford them the  luxury of private and chauffeur-driven vehicles.
“At the end of the day we are going to reduce the pressure on our corridors by using the mass transit scheme to be provided by the Abuja Rail Project and the employment opportunity it will provide for the population.
“We are going to provide employment opportunities for over one million people. And you can see that when people come to Abuja they try to stay anyhow. I am sorry with all apology and regrets that Abuja initially did not capture the needs and aspiration of the common people and the middle level manpower that we have in terms of affordable housing,” he said.
But Mohammed assured that President Goodluck Jonathan had given the FCT administration the marching order to look inward and facilitate the provision of housing for the people in that category in order to address the numerous social impediments normally presente them.

The parasites.

By Sam Omatseye.

Uduaghan

Why is it that a part of the northern elite has decided to swim in the Niger Delta oil, for all its beautiful blackness and viscous glory? Why is Kwankwaso, the Kano State Governor, not embroiled in the debate with policy wonks on how to bring back the pyramidal triumphs of Kano’s groundnut past? Or why is the ebullient Babangida Aliyu, his Niger State counterpart and head of the northern governors, not devoting his well-known imagination to furthering the frontiers of productivity and harmony as he has been doing?
What is going on is that the North is confronting a mammoth paradox today: a stunning epiphany and an overwhelming denial. A light has fallen into the northern room, but it is at once illuminating and blinding. The illumination comes from its realisation that the North today is not the North of 20 years ago, where it flexed muscles and dictated what happened from the tips of Sokoto to the ocean waves in Lekki Peninsula. 
That was the north of the shadowy Kaduna mafia, the force of men powerful for being anonymous. They were the predators, growling and belching smoke. It was a rampart of power, deciding resource allocations, fuelling military coups, assigning contracts, guzzling and gurgling the oil of the Niger Delta. The mafia, for want of a better word, inspired fear and trembling, respect and loathing, and all the vile emotions in between. 
But it was a quiet and sullen force, not enamoured of public debate nor given to dithering. It had the power of crime and punishment as well as reward. Cocky and quietly defiant, it sometimes carried notoriety as a badge.
Today, the northern power force has no such weight. That is where the denial is. It is because of the denial that we have northern elite bluster in public. It is because there is not much private power. In the heyday of the mafia, they would have shunned the theatre of public debate about offshore and onshore dichotomy. They would have done what they did when derivation was only one per cent. Now, they have to shout and remind one of Wole Soyinka’s chiding of the dowagers of Negritude: a tiger should not shout its “tigritude.” The point is that there are no genuine tigers in the vast lands of the North any more.
But it is not in the character of this column to gloat, since the issue of onshore/offshore dichotomy is not a debate that extends the frontiers of one nation. This is a sombre reality because it is a question of power more than harmony.
But more interesting is that the Niger Delta, which encases the oil, has ironically been a longtime ally of the north. The North has always played the avuncular or even paternal role, dictating the orientation of its politics and enjoying the obeisance of the South-south elite. Its first shock was the emergence of Goodluck Jonathan as President, even though he did it without any regard for the niceties of a statesman. However, Jonathan has shaken the North and it is looking for legitimate means of reasserting itself. But rather than do it by recalibrating its strategy, using its vast size and numerous constituencies and brilliant political players, it is trying to use the brawn of its glory days. That is futile today. That is why its pursuit of the revenues of the Niger Delta states mocks its imperial past.
The relation between the North and the Niger Delta is a clear case of oedipal complex. The father has woken up to see that the son is so powerful that he can slay his former superior. It is the potential equivalent of political parricide.
There are a number of reasons why the call for a review of the offshore/onshore dichotomy cannot stand. One, the 2004 decision by the National Assembly was a compromise that involved every stakeholder from the North. Two, the 13 per cent given to the people of the region is miniscule given what comes out of the bowels of their earths. Three, why does the North want to cut into the 13 per cent when a man like Kwankwaso knows that in the years of the groundnut pyramid, the region enjoyed as much as 50 per cent in derivation. Import duties were also paid to the regions. Is our history going to serve as a parasitic one or a productive one? Why are the states not focused on generating the huge potential that mock us daily in every state? We are seeing already how some governors are raking up more money in internally generated revenue in places like Edo, Oyo, Lagos, Osun and Ekiti. Even Sokoto State has had a good record in that regard. 
In fact, a state like Kano that compares itself in population and investment to Lagos should follow what Lagos has been doing to generate funds as a non-oil state. States like Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Rivers have suffered great environmental degradation from oil pollution. The communities cost more to develop than any part of the country.
In his lecture in Asaba last week, Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, stressed the point that oil does not last forever.  Hear him: “If the demand for resource control has remained trenchant, it is simply because our people have for long lived with the stark evidence of a mindless exploitation of the oil resources in their land. They have lived with the despoliation and degradation of their environments without concomitant benefits…”
He noted that the “peaceful nature of the people” is taken for granted, adding that oil will not last forever.  “There are two cardinal points I envisage. One, get the most you can from oil now as you transform to a post-oil era,” Uduaghan said, echoing his signature: Delta Beyond Oil initiative. “Two, develop other resources of revenue and diversify your economy…”
A study noted that if the offshore money was redistributed to all the states, they would get about 150 million each. How can that make a Dubai of the northern states?
Why would a state suffer the consequences of its littoral status and not enjoy the benefits. The most potent in this regard is Akwa Ibom State. Its Governor, Godswill Akpabio, with massive infrastructure development and education, has deployed its resources to elevate a state that has suffered from the pollution of its waters.
Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states suffer both from onshore and offshore violations. To deny this is to be insensitive. Not long ago, we witnessed the escalation of militancy in that region. We do not want eruptions of rage in that region again as it will compound the pains of a nation still trying to come to terms with the agonies of Boko haram.
Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda hit the bull’s eye when, in dissociating himself from some of his northern colleagues, asserted that the Niger Delta communities have suffered greatly suffering and should be compensated. Second, he echoed the point that the north took part in the debate and decision against onshore/offshore dichotomy. 
This is not the time to curse the darkness of discord in the land. Let us light candles. I argued on this page that 13 per cent was little. Now, some want that also removed. The point they want to make is that foul is fair.